Opening Klok
by Luma
Summary: Dethklok is forced to choose a band to be the opening act for their upcoming tour. While they plot to get rid of opening act, The Tribunal makes use of the newfound pawns.
1. Way to go, Zuzu!

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Chapter One

**Way To Go, Zuzu! **

* * *

"I have an announcement to make." Charles Ofdensen said, standing before Dethklok. They ignored his presence as usual, and continued chatting in the hot tub. He sighed, hating to be ignored, "The label has made a big decision, I think you boys would be very interested in hearing it."

"No." Nathan grunted, closing his eyes as if that would make Charles disappear, "Just go away, we wanna relax."

Charles glanced over the papers the label had faxed him again, "Well, it concerns your upcoming tour. I really think we should review this now. It would be best to get something like this out of the way as soon as--"

"We don't CARE, Numbers." Murderface spat, slamming his knife into the hot tub's lining, "Why can't you _ever_ just leave us alone and let us be happy? It's always work, work, work with you."

"Yeas." Toki gurgled, his face half submerged under the bubbling water.

Charles sighed and continued anyway, "Well, it seems that the label wants you to choose a band to open for your upcoming tour."

Nathan's eyes grew wide with fury, "What?!"

"Dude, what the hell?" Pickles said, setting down his Mojito drink, "We don't need no kiddie band opening for our shows. We're friggin' Dethklok. "

Charles frowned, he had hoped they wouldn't fuss to much about this, "It would be a good business move for you to have an opening act, it would definitely improve your image. You would also help an up and coming band get noticed." He looked at their uncaring eyes and quickly changed his strategy, "And, you would be doing less work, but still receiving the same pay. " They seemed to ponder this a moment.

"No, I still donts' likes it." Skwisgaar said, the other band members agreed.

Charles shook his head, "These are orders from the label, you will all just have to deal with it." He rolled his eyes as they threw tantrums, disapproving and cursing their recording label, "The label is doing this as a contest, every band that qualifies will be initially screened by the producers, and the top 10 of those will be run by you all so you can make the final choice."

Nathan grumbled, "Well, ok, but we only want the most **brutal** bands. You tell them that, don't send us any pussies that can't even…like, play, and stuff."

"Of course," Charles said, pretending to care, "I will keep you all updated about the progress of the contest." He left the room, shutting the large gothic door behind him.

"This is totally dildos." Skwisgaar said, angrily playing his guitar.

Murderface slammed his knife down again, "They can't make us do this!"

Pickles thought about it for a moment, then grinned mischievously, "Hey, I got an idea guys. We'll let them stick some kiddie band on us, and we'll pretend to like them, and 'teach' them the ropes. 'n we'll teach them all the things that'll make them suck, so when they go out to perform they'll get booed off the stage and be off our backs."

"Wowie that's brutal Pickle!" Toki chimed.

Nathan slammed his fist onto the water, "Then it's settled! We're gunna show the recording label they can't force anything on us by _destroying_ the opening act."

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Kyrie sat at her drum set, her eyes starring forward into nothingness. "I can do this…I can do this…" she repeated to herself over and over again. Her hands were shaking, her vision blurred, she couldn't seem to get a grip of herself. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

"Come on Zuzu, where's our percussion?" a boy with spiked, dark brown hair demanded. He glared at her with icy blue eyes, tilting his body and guitar in her direction.

She snapped out of her trance, "Sorry Leo!" she quickly caught up with their pace. She glanced up at Leo, who turned back to the microphone and began singing again, and then looked over at Alvin on bass. She felt very out of place in this band. She closed her eyes, focusing back on the music, that was the most important thing right now, that would be her lucky ticket.

"_Drowning in a sea of pain_

_Thoughts of you driving me insane_

_Don't you know?_

_Don't you know?_

_Don't you_--GOD, STOP!" Leo shouted.

"What the hell was that Zuzu?" he turned, angrily eyeing the girl again, "You gotta keep up with me and Alvin. I didn't bust my ass sweet talking the producers into letting us perform for Dethklok for you to ruin it with your horrible drumming."

"Aww, come on Leo, don't be so hard on her." Alvin said softly, running his fingers through his messy charcoal colored hair, "She's doing the best she can, maybe we should slow it down a bit for her until she's more used to it."

"No!!" Leo shouted, startling both Kyrie and Alvin, "It has to be perfect, we can't afford to mess this up, it's our only chance with Dethklok."

Alvin rolled his eyes, growing irritated, "Bro, we're not even a metal band, I don't understand why we're even trying out."

"Maybe we can do it!" Kyrie said in a hopeful tone.

"Not with your half-assed drumming." Leo remarked, "You're lucky you're all we could find on such short notice. Now from the top, lets get it right this time!" Kyrie sighed, and Alvin tossed her a sympathetic smile.

"I can do this…I can do this…" she repeated to herself, determined to improve.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

The sun shined brightly in the sky, casting a happy glow onto the people scattered below. Kyrie looked up at the sky from underneath a large oak tree while Leo and Alvin discussed last minute changes to their performance beside her. Kyrie smiled up at the sky, she had been practicing her drums everyday for hours since Leo had last yelled at her about it. Maybe all her efforts would be enough.

"Pay attention Zuzu!" Leo snapped, she turned her attention to the boys. "Now, I heard the performances today are going to be on live television. LIVE! So don't mess up. Even if we can't get in with Dethklok, at least we can get our names known."

"Yea, yea…" Alvin yawned, "You feel ready for this, Kyrie?"

She smiled brightly, "Yes!"

"We're on in like 20 minutes, so lets get headed to the place." Leo said, standing and dusting off his black jeans and adjusting his black sleeveless shirt. Kyrie looked over at Alvin who adjusted his dark blue jeans and red sleeveless shirt. The entire "sleeveless shirt" ensemble had been Leo's idea, he wanted the band to look balanced. Kyrie followed their lead, adjusting her red tank top and blue jeans, and quickly rewrapping her red bandana. She tightened her short, black pigtails as they advanced towards the check in station.

Kyrie frowned, pushing through the seemingly endless crowd of reporters. She could hear many different languages in the mixture of cultures that came to broadcast the event. "It's so many people!" she shouted over the crowd, hoping that Alvin or Leo could hear her.

"Just the more people to see us rise to fame!" Leo said back to her, "Look! I think I see the place we have to check in at up ahead." Within a few feet they stood before a tall man in all black wearing a hood, Kyrie had read about them before but couldn't quiet remember what they were called. She was relatively new to the entire "Dethklok" thing. She was actually pretty new at playing the drums too. None of that mattered as far as she was concerned, because her research indicated _he_ had joined Dethklok, and maybe all of her efforts would impress _him_. This was her lucky ticket, she had to make it count. She smiled at the thought of him, feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

"Here's our stage I.D.'s, totally authentic!" Leo flashed them to the guard who checked their names off the list.

"You're the last band." the man said, "Follow the arrows, they will lead you to the stage. Wait your turn."

Kyrie looked up at the hooded man. "Roadie!" she said, remembering the mans title. She quickly covered her mouth as if saying that may have offended him, the man merely ignored her.

"Kyrie?" Alvin called back to her, she ran to catch up. The trio walked through a small hallway in single file, Leo leading the way. The hall was pitch black, the only thing which seemed to guide them was the sound of music growing louder. After a few more minutes, they finally reached the end of the hall, and ascended up a small flight of stairs.

"Thank you for uhm, your performance Fated Death Misery Express." A deep voice said from ahead of them.

Another voice added, "Thank yous for being am, us, here playing."

Kyrie was puzzled by the sentence, and eagerly looked up the steps, they were closer to the top. Bright stage lights seemed to blind her for a moment, and she wondered why there were so many lights. "It's brighter in here than outside…" she mumbled to herself as she reached the top of the steps.

"This is it man!" Leo said excitedly. Kyrie peeked around them, trying to catch a glimpse of Dethklok. All she could see was the tops of their heads, brown, red, black, blond, brown.

"What the hell is he doing here…?" Alvin whispered to Leo. Kyrie turned her attention to the four people approaching them, assuming they were the band that had just performed.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Barbed LOSERS." A boy with dirty blond hair said from the opposing group. The rest of his group laughed.

"Haha Pan, go fuck yourself." Leo spat. The two bands stood, sizing each other up. Kyrie frowned, feeling insignificant in this group of older, musically wise boys.

"Barbed _Brothers_." Alvin said smoothly, "Don't tell me after all this time you still can't get the band name right."

Pan laughed, "Whatever. You all just take a good look at all this here, this is the closest you losers will ever be to the big time. Me and my band have this contest already won."

"We'll see about that." Alvin said in a harsh, low tone.

Leo simply laughed at the statement, "If you're just as shitty of a drummer as you were for our band then you can forget it."

Pan grinned, "I can do a lot better than you losers, why do you think I left?" He and his band walked around the three, "Oh, and this is what you got to replace me? Some skinny little girl? I bet she can't even play drums."

"I can too!" Kyrie shouted angrily.

He laughed again, "You can't even tie your shoes." She looked down at her red and white Adidas tennis shoes and growled, kneeling to quickly tie them.

"Barbed Brothers please report to the stage." the loudspeaker shouted. Both Alvin and Leo rushed to get set up while Kyrie hurried to tie her shoes, trying to ignore the other band as they walked away laughing and making jokes. She cursed them under her breath, she could play drums, she would show them all.

"Zuzu come on!" Leo shouted, "We need you on drums now!"

She fretted with her shoes a few moments longer, and then gave up, rushing to the stage. Her eyes went wide as she felt her foot get caught on something, and her body thrown forward. She tripped on a cord, accidentally yanking it. The cord tripped a Roadie who was patrolling the stage area, causing him to fall back onto a pulley. The pulley began to spin some, loosening a large lighting fixture on the ceiling.

Kyrie looked over at Dethklok, which was in full sight of her tripping, and felt her cheeks grow red with embarrassment. The few news reporters who had been permitted to record the contest began laughing. She could hear Leo mumble something under his breath about "useless" and "pathetic", and her eyes began to swell with tears.

"What a loser!!" Pan shouted, his entire band stopping to mock her again. Suddenly a loud snapping sound echoed through the auditorium, and Kyrie turned and watched in horror as the loosened lighting fixture crashed down onto the laughing Fated Death Misery Express band. The impact splattered blood everywhere.

"Oh my…" Alvin gasped, he and Leo starred at the bloody mess, and then looked at Kyrie who was covered in blood.

"DID YOU SEE THAT?" Kyrie looked over at Dethklok, which seemed more amazed than horrified by the incident. "That was the most brutal thing I've seen today." The lead singer said.

"Dude, they're hired." She looked over at the red haired drummer, "Forget the rest of the bands, that tops everything we seen in brutality."

Her eyes wandered over to the blond, who seemed to smile angelically at her, "Yea, lets signs' them up." He said. She felt her heart flutter, it was _him_.

"Are you serious?!" Leo asked excitedly, "We're in, that's it?!"

Alvin adjusted his glasses, "You don't even want to hear us play?"

"Shut up!" Leo jabbed him in the stomach with his elbow, "This is great! This is so fucking awesome!! Way to go Zuzu!!"

Kyrie sat, feeling a bit dazed and confused. How was killing a rival band a good thing? How did that automatically grant them the right to be the opening act for Dethklok? Could this really be happening? She looked down at her jeans, noticing for the first time she was covered in blood. Her mind began racing, she felt sick to her stomach, and fell back onto the stage, unconscious.


	2. Finally Here

* * *

Chapter Two

**Finally Here**

* * *

Kyrie slowly opened her eyes. Blurred figures stood around her, murmuring things that she could not understand. She raised her hands, rubbing her temples and slowly sitting up, "What happened?" she asked. The figures gradually came into focus.

"You passed out." Alvin said worriedly, "Are you alright?"

She nodded, taking in the surroundings. Alvin stood by her bedside, while Leo was to her left, talking to a professional looking man with glasses. They were in a small nurses office with cream colored walls and white cabinets. Kyrie looked down at the white patients bed she sat on, and then at the dried blood on her jeans. _'I'll never wear these pants again…'_ she thought to herself, feeling slightly queasy.

"She's finally awake." Alvin said to the others.

"Alright!" Leo cheered, "Now we can get this all finalized. Mr. Ofdensen here didn't wanna start till you were up, Zuzu." Leo pointed back to Charles Ofdensen, who seemed to be studying Kyrie. She felt as if she was being dissected under his cold, impassive gaze. She looked away, digging a silver trinket out of her pocket and playing with it. Charles focused his attention on the rest of the band and cleared his throat,

"Well, now that you are all conscious, I would like to discuss the terms of the agreement." They all nodded, "But before I begin, do you all have any questions you would like to ask?" Kyrie thought for a moment, unsure of what to ask. She looked at Alvin, who seemed hesitant to speak.

"Yea, about that other band….are they ok?" he finally asked.

Kyrie frowned as the horrific scene replayed itself in her mind. "Am I in trouble?" she asked in a small, frightened voice.

"The other band unfortunately died." Charles said with no hint of emotion in his voice, "But, as you may or may not remember, when your band signed up for the initial screening of this contest you were required to sign a Pain Waiver form. That form released Dethklok from all liability from any injuries or deaths which may have occurred as a result of any performance."

"What?!" Both Alvin and Kyrie shouted, Leo had never mentioned any 'Pain Waiver' forms.

Leo smiled innocently, and attempted to calm his angry band mates. "Aw come on guys, I must of overlooked that part of the paperwork. You know I'd never put you in harms way."

"But…Dethklok didn't kill them." Kyrie said in a small voice. Leo shot her an evil look for mentioning that.

Charles nodded, "Yes, but a Roadie was responsible for knocking the lighting fixture out of place, and--"

"That answers' good enough for me." Leo said smoothly, "Enough dumb questions, lets talk about us opening for Dethklok!"

Charles grew irritated by his enthusiasm and choice of words, "As stated by the contest rules, you will be the opening act for Dethklok in their upcoming tour. You will be living and traveling with the band for the duration of the tour. You will be assigned a designated area in Mordhaus, and you are only allowed in your designated area. Do not wander around. Do not bother Dethklok."

Alvin nodded, "So where do we practice?"

"We are in the process of setting aside a private area for you to rehearse at."

"Cool, cool…so could we watch Dethklok rehearsing too?" Leo asked excitedly.

"No." Charles' voice was stern, "You are not permitted to see them rehearse, or permitted to go into the recording studio. After you are all settled in, I will need you to come by my office and sign confidentiality agreements, and a few other important forms. If you would like, I can lead you all to the room you will be sharing for the duration of the tour."

Kyrie cocked her head to the side, "Just one room?"

"We'll need at least two." Alvin quickly added.

Charles looked at Kyrie once more, she felt insignificant under his gaze and toyed with her shiny silver trinket again. "Well, I had assumed 'Barbed Brothers' would mean you were all male. After all, that is what your registration papers indicated."

"Oh, that?" Leo said, thinking quickly, "Yea, what happened was, we had another drummer. Real big guy, but he had to leave for uhm…family reasons, so we had to pick up another drummer short notice, and Zuzu was all we could find." He pointed over to Kyrie, "I mean, she's not much of a drummer, but at least she's cute!" Kyrie scowled at him.

"I see." Charles said, "I will have to make additional arrangements then. If you would all follow me, I will take you to your room until we can find another for _her_."

Kyrie hopped off the patients bed, wondering why he had put so much emphasis on "her". The three followed closely behind Charles and were joined by two Roadies at the doorway. Outside of the seemingly normal nurses office, the walls of the house were black, with decorative red swirls. Stone, demonic looking figures seemed to watch them as they passed by each, making Kyrie uncomfortable. The house seemed as if it were designed to resemble a castle, or possibly a dungeon, from the European middle ages.

"I also noticed on your registration papers that you are a soft rock band, is that correct?" Charles asked as they turned down a hall.

"Yup." Alvin said, eyeing the medieval weaponry hanging from the walls in this particular hall.

"You are all aware that Dethklok is a death metal band, and that most of the fans at the concerts you will be opening for will also be death metal fans?" Charles asked.

Leo laughed, "Of course we know that. Don't sweat it, we have this all planned out. You worry about your boys and I'll worry about mine. " The manager looked over at him, annoyed by his statement. Charles stopped the group in front of a door, and instructed one of the Roadies to open it. The moment the handle was turned, Leo pushed them aside, eagerly taking in the room. "Hell, this aint half bad!"

Alvin apologized for Leo's rudeness and followed him in, "Better than my parent's place." He said. The room seemed modern and normal compared to the rest of the house. It was spacious, with bright red walls and white carpeting. Three simple white beds were lined against the right wall and a circular red carpet lay in the center of the room. Across from the beds was a desk with a lamp, and tucked into a corner of the room was a small bathroom. A single arched window shed in light from the outside.

"I wonder what my room will be like…" Kyrie wondered aloud.

"I will send someone to get you once the other room is ready." Charles said to her, she looked up at him. "You all can get settled in, I will call for you shortly to finish the final paperwork, and then you can send for your things."

Kyrie clutched her trinket, and watched as Charles and the Roadies disappeared down the hall.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Inside the main room of Mordhaus, Dethklok engaged in various activities. Toki bounced around on a DDR machine, enjoying himself even though he was losing. Seated comfortably on a set of couches and surrounded by beer bottles, Nathan, Skwisgaar, and Pickles discussed a new song they had been working on for the upcoming tour. Across from them, Murderface starred up at a television. An interesting program about the Civil War was on, discussing the gory details of the Battle of Antietam.

"What the hell?" Muderface shouted as an 'Emergency Warning NewsFlash' popped up on the screen. "Turn my show back on!"

"This is an emergency update concerning the crisis in the Midwest." A young, blond news reporter said on the television, "The Midwest has received yet another natural disaster blow this month, as a tornado ravished it's way through three states."

Toki pulled away from his DDR game, panting, "Hey Pickle, look on the TVs', they talking about yous' home."

Pickles looked up from his discussion with Nathan and Skwisgaar as the reporter went on about the incident. "I remember growin' up there. There was always tornado's." Pickles said, remembering his teenage years, "And everytime there was a tornado warning, I would have to disassemble my drum kit, and reassemble it downstairs. 'cause you know, if theres a tornado, I don't want my fuckin' drums flying around in the, you know, tornado."

"Yea, but that would sounds' pretty metal." Skwisgaar said, Pickles raised an eyebrow at the statement.

"Good, you're all here." They turned their attention to Charles, who seemed very eager to speak with them. "I would like to know why you chose a band to open for your tour without even hearing them play."

No one said anything, knowing it would be unwise to tell Charles they were only interested in getting rid of their opening band. As Charles looked at each of them, waiting for an answer, Nathan finally spoke. "Did you see the way that chick took out the other band?"

"Yea." Pickles said, "That was brutal. How could we pass up such a metal band?"

"You are aware that they are not a metal band?" Charles asked, Dethklok looked as if they did not understand him, "They do not play metal music, do you know this?"

"What?!" Toki exclaimed, "What the hells' they plays' then?"

"Rock, Toki. They are a soft rock band." Charles answered.

Murderface nodded, "I'm sure atleast some of those jack off's at our concerts will like them."

"Well, it isn't to late to choose another band. No forms have been signed, we could easily go through the contest process again and—"

Nathan cut Charles off before he could finish, "I'm not going through the whole contest thing again. That's our opening act. That's who we want." The rest of the band seemed to agree.

Charles sighed, "If you all have your minds made up about this, then the only thing left to do is finish the paper work." He returned to his office, feeling defeated.

"That was close." Skwisgaar said. "Almost haves' to go through that contests again. Those bands, they can't plays'. Hurts my ears."

"But this one we gots now not even a metal band!" Toki exclaimed.

Pickles was slightly annoyed, "Toki, that's the point, we don't want a good or even decent band to open for us. This'll just make it easier to get them outta our hair."

"But wait, we didn't even hear them play." Nathan said, realizing this, "What…what if they are good? What if they want to stay the entire tour?"

"We could sabotage them." Murderface suggested, they all looked at him for more details. He grinned, "Well you see…"

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Kyrie held her drumsticks, playing "air drums" like Alvin had suggested. She sat in the mostly empty room that Charles had assigned for her, feeling a little lonely since she was far from Leo and Alvin. The walls of her room were white with dark red outlines, and the carpet was maroon. The room was smaller and less decorated than the room Alvin and Leo shared, but she didn't mind. She just wanted her drums, but they were still being moved to Mordhaus.

She smiled suddenly, and began to play her air drums at a faster pace. Her drums were being moved from her mothers house. She was away from her mothers house. She wondered if her mother even noticed that she was missing, Kyrie shrugged her shoulders, she had atleast told her mother she was going away for a while.

"No more getting yelled at…" she whispered, hitting an invisible cymbal. This would be her first taste of real freedom, her first experiences away from all the hardships of home. "No more sleeping on the floor…". She sat back onto her cozy new bed, playing her invisible drums at an even faster pace. "No more anything!" she shouted happily, dropping her drumsticks and falling back onto her bed.

She smiled at the ceiling, closing her eyes and imagining that somewhere in this very house, _he_ sat. He could even be in the room next to her, she had no idea where all the strange rooms in Mordhaus led to. She looked over at her wall, imagining Skwisgaar's slender figure on the other side of it. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a broken silver locket in the shape of a heart. She opened it, starring at an old picture of Skwisgaar she had taken from one of her mothers magazines.

Kyrie held the locket close to her heart, "I'm so happy I joined this band. I'm so happy I'm finally here. You're so close…" she whispered, her eyes feeling heavy. She closed the locket and tucked it safely back into her pocket, and grabbed a pillow from her new bed. She drifted off to sleep, with thoughts of her beloved guitarist filling her dreams.


	3. Spills and Deals

* * *

Chapter Three

**Spills and Deals**

* * *

Down a dark hall in Mordhaus, bright white lights blinked "Barbed Brothers", and underneath that in neon red letters, _Rehearsal Room_. The small room echoed with vibrant music, while Kyrie's slightly off beat drums dragged behind. "Zuzu keep up!!" Leo snapped, irritated by her slow pace. "The first concert is just a few months away, stop fucking up."

"I'm not trying to mess up!" she yelled back to him, feeling overwhelmed. She was sweating, frantically moving to hit the right drums while keeping count of the eighth notes. She raised her hand to hit a cymbal and felt her drum stick slip out of her grasp, landing on the other side of the room.

Leo growled, trying to control his temper. "Let's take a break?" Alvin suggested. Kyrie frowned, sliding out of her seat to retrieve the missing drumstick.

"Whatever." Leo said. He set down his blue and white guitar and sat on the floor next to it. Kyrie sighed, it wasn't her fault she couldn't keep up, Leo was demanding to much from her. "We suck. We're gunna get booed off the stage…" Leo muttered to himself.

"Well that's not a very positive thing to say." Kyrie, Alvin, and Leo over at Dethklok who stood at the doorway of the room, each member sporting a huge, creepy smile. Kyrie's heart skipped a beat as she gazed at Skwisgaar. "Why don't you guys play somethin' for us?" Pickles asked.

Leo grinned, feeling as if the question was a challenge, "Alright!" He raised himself off the ground and Kyrie hurried back to her seat. "Let's do 'Ache'. One….two…three, go!" Kyrie smiled, she liked this song, it was slower compared to the others. She moved her body to the beat, and glanced over at Dethklok to see what her beloved Skwisgaar may have thought about it thus far.

The looks on their faces was a mixture of disgust and pain. Kyrie was shocked, they hadn't even made it to the lyrics. Skwisgaar and Toki were covering their ears, "Stops that horrible sounds!" Skwisgaar said, the band immediately stopped. "What the hells is wrong with yous' guitars?"

Leo looked offended, "_My_ guitar? Nothing."

"What you means nothing?" Toki asked, still covering his ears.

"I play fine, Zuzu's crap drumming must have thrown you guys off or something." Leo said, Kyrie growled and threw a drumstick, hitting Leo in the back of the head. He turned, looking slightly shocked. It was the first time Kyrie had ever retaliated against his comments, and Alvin chuckled approvingly.

"No." Skwisgaar said, "We shows you hows' it's done."

Leo looked irritated as Skwisgaar and Toki approached him. "Oh, and hey, I can help with lyrics." Nathan said, heading towards him as well. Leo mumbled under his breath, trying to fake an appreciative smile; Alvin and Kyrie couldn't help but laugh.

"Yea, and that bass could definitely use some work." Murderface said, moving towards Alvin.

Alvin pushed his glasses closer to his face, "Really?" he asked, interested in getting advice from such a well known bass player.

Kyrie looked back to the doorway at Pickles, who stood with the same, creepy-almost-friendly-seeming smile. "Let's work on those drums!" he said energetically. She smiled at him as he advanced towards her, although she knew very little about Pickles, she was very eager to learn from an _actual_ drummer.

Pickles stepped up onto the platform Kyrie's drum sat on, "Hey Toki, could'ja hand her that other drumstick?"

Toki grabbed it off the ground and passed it back to Kyrie, as Skwisgaar and Nathan grilled Leo's musical abilities. "Here you go." He said smiling sweetly, and she reached out to take it. They each blushed when their hands brushed.

"Thank you…" she said softly. Pickles rolled his eyes, and Toki turned his attention back to Leo.

"So uh…" Pickles frowned, unsure of where to begin, "I guess, what do you know about drumming?"

Kyrie frowned, "Not very much…everything I do know is just from books, and guides on the internet."

Pickles nodded, "Well since your drumstick was on the other side of the room when I got here, why don't you show me how you're holding your drumsticks, and we can work from there."

She looked at her hands, feeling extremely self-conscious. She didn't know how she held her drumsticks, she just held them. "Uhm…" she frowned as nervous thoughts consumed her mind, and tried to quickly position her hands in a way that wouldn't make her seem like an idiot.

Pickles watched her panic and felt a little sorry for her, she didn't seem like she knew what to do. He was unsure if it was really necessary to go through with the plan, at least with her. "Like this." He repositioned her fingers on each hand the same way he remembered learning to play drums, "This is called 'Matched Grip', real popular. Helps you move quickly around the drums." He repositioned her fingers again, "This is 'Traditional', it's good for quick stroking. You should try out both styles, do whatever feels more comfortable."

She nodded, "Does it matter which way I hold them?"

Pickles shook his head, "Nah, just whatever is more comfortable. I—"

"Why the _hell_ would I hold my pick that tight??" Leo asked, almost shouting. Everyone looked over as he and Skwisgaar stood face to face.

"Who's in the biggest band in the world?! NOT YOUS." Skwisgaar shouted back.

"We knows what we talking about." Toki added. "Just give yous' some friendly teachings."

Nathan stood behind them, "Yea, don't be such an ungrateful dick."

Leo narrowed his eyes, knowing now that something was going. He clutched his guitar pick, and gritted his teeth, "You know what, I think I need to go out for some air." He said, stomping away. "Practice is over today, Al and Zuzu."

Kyrie looked up at Pickles, "Could you help me just a little more, please?"

Pickles looked over at Murderface, who shook his head no, "Well…I think it's time we get goin'." She looked up at him sadly, and he couldn't help but feel a little awkward.

"Yea, it's probably best if we help you guys while you're_ all_ here." Murderface added.

"Alright, well…thanks." Alvin said. "Leo may not appreciate it, but Kyrie and I certainly do."

As Dethklok headed towards the exit, Skwisgaar yelled back to them, "Yous' twos' just keep on practicing, you gets better. Who knows, maybes' next times you not sounds like shit."

"Was that a compliment or an insult?" Alvin asked, looking at Kyrie. She shrugged her shoulders, and began practicing her new drumstick holding techniques.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Once they were well away from the rehearsal room of the Barbed Brothers, Dethklok broke out in laughter. "That was easy." Murderface said.

"Yea." Nathan added, "It'll be easy to get rid of them."

Toki frowned, feeling sorry for the unfortunate band. "Buts guys, they seems like real nice peoples. Maybe we shouldn't do's this?"

"Oh Toki," Skwisgaar said smirking, "You's just wants to make out with the little drummer. I sees' how you looked at her." Toki ignored the comment.

"She said she's new with the drums, but she might have potential." Pickles said. "Listened to everything I told her."

Skwisgaar took it as another opportunity to tease Toki, "Listeneds' to what you says? Much better than Toki. Maybe we should kick him from the band and adds' her." Toki scowled at him, starting to resent the girls presence.

"What did the lead guy call her?" Nathan asked. "Zoom Zoom?"

"No's, I think he say Zoo-Zoo, like fast." Toki responded.

Skwisgaar laughed, "You knows her name just like that? You really likes this ones, huh Tokis?"

"I don't likes her, Skwisgaar!" Toki shouted irritated, "You do's!"

Skwisgaar thought about this a moment, "Not mys' type, but I'd still do's her."

"The guy on bass was pretty good." Murderface crossed his arms and smiled smugly, "But he'll suck after taking all the advice I told him. I can't believe he accepted it all like that."

"The lead guy might be a problem." Nathan said, "Why'd he have to give us so much trouble? The other two just accepted what we said, why's he gotta be such a dick?" Pickles tucked his hands into his pocket, he didn't exactly give the drummer bad advice, but they didn't really need to know that.

"I kinda liked their singer," Murderface said, "it gets lonely being the only dick around here." They gave him a funny look, and he shrugged his shoulders. "Hey I get lonely too."

"My lords," they turned their attention to an approaching Roadie, "The Manager wishes to speak with you."

"What the hell does he want?" Pickles asked.

"He asked that you meet him in his office." The Roadie said, the band exchanged confused looks and headed towards Charles's office.

Once they were at his office they knocked on the door, which slowly creeped open. Charles stood by his desk, looking through a manila folder. "The recording label has made another request." He said, not bothering to look up.

"What? Another one?" Murderface asked.

"It seems they want you boys to shape up." Charles said, turning a page in the folder. "Having an opening act that is not a metal band has really made you all seem more tolerable to the non-metal world. Sales have increased by ten percent, and have been steadily rising since you acquired that opening act. Small bands of all music genre's actually feel like they have a bond with you."

"So's?" Skwisgaar said.

"This new market means more money, so the label has decided to take another risk to increase your appeal to the more 'traditional' folks in society. They want you all to cut down on the drinking."

"NO!!" Nathan shouted enraged, flipping over a chair in the office. The rest of the band yelled and cursed, Charles set down the folder and waited.

"Are you all done?" he asked when their tantrums seemed to stop, "I'm not happy about this either, I don't think the label understands how important alcohol is to your functioning. I'm asking you all to bear with me a few more days until I can talk them out of this."

They starred angrily at him, "It's not happening." Pickles said.

"What kind of manager is you's to lets them do's this to us?" Toki asked.

Charles sighed, "It's the same situation with the opening band, I advised against that as well, but the label wants to try some new idea's to increase profit."

"But we's already the biggest band in the world, what mores' they wants from us??" Skwisgaar asked, sounding a little desperate.

"Just a few days." Charles said, "You can drink with your meals still, but nothing outside of that. Now Nathan, I expect you to keep the others in line and enforce this."

Nathan said nothing, and turned stomping down the hall. The rest of the band followed his lead. "You don't have a choice." Charles said, shaking his head. He knew they were to far away to hear him, or even care at this point. "I've already taken the liberty of getting rid of all your private alcohol. Mordhaus will be dry until I can negotiate our way out of this."

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Leo sped around the corner on his red Suzuki motorcycle, his eyes fixated on the road. He needed to leave that place, _'How could Al and Zuzu possibly be so stupid?'_ He could clearly see through their little act, Dethklok just wanted to get rid of them.

"I'm not going to let them fuck this up for me." Leo said, turning the corner and driving up a long, narrow driveway lined with flowers. "I'm going to be a star, and no one is taking this from me, not even Dethklok."

He stopped in front of a large, white mansion and kicked down his kickstand. A butler quickly ran out to greet him. "Master Leonardo? We were not expecting you." The elderly man said, moving to assist him.

"Are my parents in?" Leo asked, pulling off his helmet and handing it to the butler.

"Yes sir, they are in the main lounge speaking with a very important guest. I believe they were just going to phone you." Leo looked at the man confused, "It is wonderful that you are here, please come right this way!"

Leo quietly followed him into the house, looking around at unfamiliar paintings on the wall and sculptures tucked into corners. He wondered how much his parents had spent on their latest art shopping spree, and figured by now they had depleted what little was left of his unused college fund. The butler turned down a hall and Leo followed, peering forward into the main lounge.

"Master Harrison, Master Leonardo has arrived." The butler said.

Leo poked his head into the main lounge. He had grown up surrounded by influential politicians and Hollywood stars, and wondered who was the 'big deal' this time. In a chair adjacent to his father a man sat with gray hair in a buzz cut style, and a face etched with wrinkles. He wore an army uniform, decorated with various metals and patches of honor.

"Leonardo my boy!" his father said, standing to greet his son, "I'm pleased to see you. Look who stopped by today! I'm not sure if you remember him or not." Leo studied the man who rose from his seat. "This is General Crozier."

"I remember when you were just a boy." The General said, looking Leo over, "How are you doing, son?"

"Fine." Leo said in a flat voice. "Not interested in joining the troops, so don't waste your time trying to recruit me. I know my parents want me to 'make' something out of my life, but the military just ain't for me."

Leo's father shook his head disapprovingly, "Where are your manners?"

General Crozier only chuckled, "You've become just as sharp tongued as your father said." Leo cocked an eyebrow as the General continued, "Your father tells me your band won the contest to open for Dethklok. I came to congratulate you."

"You came all this way just to congratulate me?" Leo asked, knowing there had to be more.

The General grinned, "Harrison, may I have a moment alone with your son?"

"Ah, yes." Leo's father said quickly. "I'll be in the sitting room, we can catch up when you are finished, Crozier." Leo watched him leave the room through the corner of his eye, his attention was focused on the General.

"I understand that you have been living with Dethklok. How are things at Mordhaus?" The General asked, sitting comfortably back into his seat.

"Shitty." Leo responded, sitting across from the General. "Dethklok is fucking with my chance at being famous."

The General nodded as if he understood, "How important is fame to you, Leonardo?"

"It's real important." Leo said without hesitation, "I wanna be a rock star, more than anything else. That's my dream."

"What if I told you I have connections that would make you famous far beyond your wildest dreams?" Leo sat forward, listening intently. "Is that something that would interest you?"

"Yes." Leo grinned, if there was an easier route to stardom he would gladly take it. "What would I have to do inorder to get help from you and your connections?"

The General stood again, and walked towards a window overlooking the patio. "I want you to keep an eye on Dethklok. I need information about their daily lives, what they eat, where they sleep, what they do, and most importantly about their tour." He turned back to Leo, "All you would have to do is take a few pictures and report back to me from time to time."

"Why do you need information about Dethklok?" Leo asked, mildly curious.

"That's unimportant." The General responded, walking back towards Leo, "The question you should be asking yourself is whether or not you want to be famous." He extended his hand.

Leo nodded, and stood, "If I do this, you'll make me a star?"

"My boy, I'll make you whatever you want." Leo grinned, and firmly shook General Crozier's hand, confirming the secret deal.

* * *

_Notes _: I kind of want to rewrite the first two chapters because I think they may be a little confusing at some parts, but I guess for now I'll stick with them and continue the story anyway. YAY stuff is _finally_ happening! Big thanks for the reviews **Luna** and **Marner**, I'm glad people are reading this. :D


	4. Help You, Help Me

* * *

Chapter Four

**Help You, Help Me **

* * *

It was a calm and quiet afternoon, the type of afternoon that Kyrie would usually hate. Yet after her first two weeks inside the insanity that was Mordhaus, "calm" and "quiet" were slowly becoming her favorite things. She was resting peacefully on Alvin's bed, watching television upside down,

"It's not that I don't believe you Al, it's just that he can't be that way. He just…can't!" she said, tossing a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

"I'm telling you, he's nothing but a Lothario, a Casanova, a whatever you want to call it." he said beside her, "He's a womanizer, and he uses his guitar skills and status in Dethklok to rake in the women. Haven't you seen Dethklok Minute? MILF's, GMILF's, soon-to-be-MILF's, and FBL's are his favorites, and….are you even listening?"

She shook her head no and giggled, watching the flashing lights on the television. Alvin sighed, and turned his attention back to the TV as well. They were watching a past concert of Dethklok's, trying to pinpoint any useful tips or techniques to build upon for their own performance. They had wanted to meet with Dethklok for extra help, but Leo had forbid it.

"Look at Pickles on drums, it's so amazing. I can't believe how fast he is…" Kyrie said, grabbing more popcorn. "Oh! Look Al! It's Skwisie!"

Alvin rolled his eyes, "You're in denial. Even if he were interested in you, you would only be putting yourself in a bad situation. These guys are some of the most famous people in the world, none of them want to settle down anytime soon."

"I don't want to settle down either! I just…I want to be close to him!"

"What for?"

"You don't know what it's like…" she angrily grumbled, reaching for more popcorn. "No more popcorn?"

Alvin glanced over at the empty glass bowl, "I guess not. Listen Kyrie, I know things have been hard for you in the past, but what good could possibly come from getting close to any of them, especially Skwisgaar? What makes you think you even can?"

She snatched the bowl and hopped off the bed, "I could if I really wanted to." She said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I'll get more popcorn, can you pause it 'til I'm back?" she asked as she exited the room. Alvin sighed and hit pause, feeling a little bad that he had unintentionally upset her.

Kyrie's pink bunny slippers made a soft "clop" sound as she walked down the hall. She was looking for a Roadie, since Charles had made it very clear it was against the rules for any of them to go into the kitchen. She didn't understand why he had to be so strict about things, _'Are there scary monsters loose here or something?'_she thought to herself, giggling at the idea. She looked down the hall, no one was in sight.

Her mind drifted back to the conversation with Alvin, "What makes him think he knows so much about Dethklok?" she asked out loud, "Or that he has any right to tell me I don't stand a chance."

Despite her efforts, Alvin's words still lingered in her mind. Maybe she wouldn't be good enough for Skwisgaar, maybe he was honestly only interested in MILF variety women. She scowled at the word 'MILF'. It provoked unpleasant memories of her mother and random boys from Kyrie's high school. She looked down another hall, no one was there either.

She frowned, looking down at the empty bowl. "I bet if I get more fast nobody will even notice." Kyrie looked around, making sure no one would catch her, and then proceeded down a hall.

She starred at the stone ground, still unable to keep her mind off Skwisgaar. Everything she had read in her mothers magazines made him seem so perfect. They had called him a gentleman, and said that he respected women. The interviews stated that he was well spoken, and that he was an amazing guitarist. She smiled a little, feeling somewhat confident. They had also pointed out that he had a troubled past, a neglectful mother, and that he did not know his father.

"Just like me!" Kyrie whispered excitedly, "Even if it's not happy things, we are so much alike. Al can't ignore that fact."

She perked up, hearing the sound of footsteps in the distance. She began to panic, looking around for someplace to hide. She spotted an armor that looked as if it were from feudal Japan, and ducked behind it.

"I understand that you want to make changes, but you should seriously consider speaking with me before you make such drastic requests." A familiar voice said, Kyrie stood stiff as the footsteps came closer. "That also bothered me. I specifically requested no bands with any female members. Dethklok has enough issues staying focused, I don't need any women around here making it more difficult."

Kyrie watched as the figure passed by her, it was Charles. She couldn't help but feel angry and hurt, _'I'm not making stuff more difficult…'_ she thought to herself.

"Yes, yes." Charles said on the phone, "You want to reach a broader audience, but there are some things that this band will not do, and the alcohol restriction is where they draw the line. They--Yes, I'll hold." Kyrie stood, clinging to the armor until she could no longer hear his footsteps. She cautiously peeked around the hall, making sure it was clear before she let out a sigh of relief.

"That was close." She said to herself, "Living here is like a crazy adventure." She advanced down the hall, making a mental note to discuss what she had overheard with Alvin later on.

Kyrie stopped in front of a large wooden door with KITCHEN written in bold letters. She hugged the empty popcorn bowl close to her and pushed the door open, afraid of what bizarre things might be on the inside of this particular room. To her surprise the kitchen seemed normal and professional, with white floor tiles and light yellow walls. The only thing which struck her as odd was the demonically themed kitchenware. As she marveled at it, an indistinguishable figure ran between two counters ahead of her.

"H…hello?" she asked, edging her way towards the counters. "I just wanted to know if I could get more, uhm, popcorn?" the figure rushed past her again, and her eyes locked onto it.

Kyrie watched 'it' run back and forth between the counters, muttering things in French. She was stunned by the odd shape of its face, where crude stitches held together patches of discolored flesh and teeth were poking out of what appeared to be a mouth. Although it looked very strange, she couldn't help but feel oddly fascinated by it. A ghastly, unworldly creature was loose in the only normal seeming room of the house. She searched her mind for the limited French she could remember from school,

"Excusez-moi?" she asked. It stopped, and starred at her. "Parlez-vous l', uhm, English?"

"Of course I speak English!" it said, then proudly boasted, "I am Jean-Pierre, the world famous chef."

She cocked an eyebrow, "Are you the cook here?"

"Why else would I be in the kitchen unless I were!" he said in a irritated tone, Kyrie smiled and pushed the empty bowl towards him,

"More popcorn please!"

"Ugh!" he said, and ran around her to finish preparing dishes. She watched him pour red soup into skull shaped bowls, and prepare spoons with tiny dagger ends, "I am to busy, make it yourself."

Kyrie frowned, "But I don't know where the popcorn is."

"Hey, hurry up in there." she looked towards the door on the other side of the room, recognizing Nathan's voice.

"We am hungry's!" Toki added.

Kyrie looked back over at Jean-Pierre who was rushing to finish the meals. She set down the empty bowl and tied back her short raven colored hair. "I cook at home all the time, what can I help with?" she asked.

"Cooking in your little kitchen at home and cooking for my Masters are two very different things. I do not need help." Suddenly a bowl slipped out of his grasp and fell onto the floor. He cursed under his breath in French and moved to get the mop, but Kyrie stood in front of him, with the mop already in hand.

"I can get it up." She said smiling, "You finish the food."

Jean-Pierre starred at her a moment, confused. "We's not gots' all day!" Skwisgaar shouted from the other room, the chef quickly got back to work while Kyrie mopped the mess up. After cleaning it up and setting the mop aside, she eagerly searched for more things to do.

"Get napkins." The chef said, mixing something on the stove. She nodded and retrieved black napkins from a counter, and placed a few on each tray. She curiously eyed the various spices on the counter opposite of her,

"Do the soup's need anything else in them?" she asked.

"No, they are already perfect." He said, furiously stirring the pot with a disfigured hand. Kyrie took a taste of one of the soups and nodded to herself, it did need something more. She added a dash of garlic, pepper, and sage to each bowl, hurrying to stir them before Jean-Pierre noticed.

"Now mix this." He said. She ran over to the stove, taking over for the chef while he rushed out to deliver the soup to Dethklok. She wondered if her additions would please the band, and then looked over at the trays that were left on the counter. Jean-Pierre could only carry two at a time.

"I can help carry the last one!" she said when he returned.

"No, no." he said, trying to take the final three in at the same time.

Kyrie sat down the pot and rushed over to help him, grabbing the final tray before it fell to the ground. "I got it." She said, the same friendly smile on her face.

He starred at her a moment, and then smiled back the best he could. "Follow me. Please do not disturb my Masters." She nodded.

They walked down a short hall which led into a dining room. Dethklok sat at a long dinner table facing them. "About TIME." Murderface spat, glaring at Jean-Pierre.

"Oh look Toki, it's yous' little girlfriend." Skwisgaar whispered amongst the band. Toki glared over at him from the opposite side of the table, Skwisgaar's constant teasing regarding the girl was slowly eating away at him.

"I apologize, my Lords." The chef sincerely stated, "Here are the rest of the meals." Kyrie looked around him, trying to catch a glimpse of Skwisgaar. The chef placed the first tray in front of Nathan,

"Uh, why is Zoom Zoom with you?" Nathan asked. She looked at him confused by the mispronunciation of her nickname, as the chef placed the second tray in front of Murderface,

"She has been kind enough to help." Jean-Pierre responded, directing Kyrie to place the final tray in front of Toki. She gazed over at Skwisgaar, oblivious to the evil stare Toki was giving her. "We will return with dessert." The chef said, heading back to the kitchen. Kyrie followed behind him, looking over her shoulder at Skwisgaar.

Pickles poked him with his elbow, "Someone's checkin' you out."

He looked up, and Kyrie blushed and quickly looked away. Skwisgaar shrugged his shoulders, and continued eating.

"This is fucking delicious." Nathan said, eating another spoonful of soup. "It's like it has more…more…"

"Zazz." Murderface said, "Definitely more zazz."

"Better drinks' up guys." Toki swallowed another mouthful of alcohol, "It last time we gets' more today."

Pickles grumbled, more upset about the temporary loss of his favorite beverage than anyone else. His main alcohol stash had been cleared out, and so were most of his hiding places. "This is so brutal…" he sighed.

Jean-Pierre and Kyrie returned, carrying small white bowls decorated with black skulls on a silver platter. "Here are the desserts, my Lords." The chef said, placing a bowl in front of each. "Is everything to your liking?"

"Did Zoom Zoom add something to the soup?" Nathan asked, having already finished his bowl. The chef eyed the girl who laughed nervously,

"I, er… was it bad?" she asked.

"It's delicious!!" Kyrie jumped back a little scared, as Nathan shouted that in a deep, dark voice.

Murderface slurped another spoonful of soup, "It's pretty good." Kyrie looked over at Skwisgaar, who ignored her presence and continued eating his food.

"You have to cook with all our meals now." Nathan demanded.

"If you want to." Pickles quickly added.

Kyrie's eyes lit up, "I'd love to!"

Jean-Pierre nodded, "If this is what my Masters wish, then she shall be my assistant. Collect the dishes."

"Yes sir!" she said, accustomed to following orders. She collected the soup bowls while they finished dessert, a bright smile on her face.

After she disappeared back into the kitchen, Toki turned to his bandmates. "Why she happy to pick up dishes? It's not's natural."

"Every time I seen her she looks like that, all…_happy_." Pickles said. "This aint a happy place."

"I wanna smash those things on her feet." Murderface added, referring to her bunny slippers. "I mean, why would you wear something like _that_ here? I hate rabbits, it's just asking for trouble."

Nathan was the only one who didn't seem to mind, "I have to admit, it is weird having such a girly-girl around here, but it's not so bad. At least she can cook." They all seemed to agree, at least with the last part.

"Mon dieu!!" they heard Jean-Pierre yell, the sound of glass dishes shattering echoed from the kitchen. Dethklok starred at the hall leading to the kitchen, wondering what could have happened.

After a few moments of silence, they finally heard Kyrie laughing, "I…I'm ok!"

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Alvin flipped through the channels on the television, sighing to himself. Kyrie had been missing at least an hour and he was debating on whether or not he should go out looking for her. "She seemed pretty annoyed when she left, maybe she's just blowing off some steam." he said, stretching out onto his bed.

He closed his eyes, remembering when Leo had first dragged the shy and slightly awkward girl to their practice. It was shortly after their old drummer had walked out on the band, unable to stand Leo's bullying anymore. She had cried to them that could not play drums well, and although Alvin would have been happy to let her go, Leo wouldn't hear it. Alvin shook his head. Ever since they were children, whenever Leo saw something he wanted he took it, often disregarding the consequences of his actions. "Idiot." He murmured to himself.

"Aww, were you daydreaming about me?" Alvin shot up, Leo was leaning aganist the frame of their room door. "That's so _sweet_."

Alvin rolled his eyes, "Haven't seen you around lately, what have you been up to?"

Leo walked into the room, looking around as if it were his first time there, "Oh you know, just here and there. Just came back to get somethin'." he knelt down and unzipped a suitcase, moving things around, "Heard Zuzu in the kitchen, that chick causes a commotion where ever she goes."

"In the kitchen?" Alvin asked, "But we're not allowed in there."

"I know." Leo said, laughing. He tucked a black item from his suitcase into his pocket and zipped it back up, "She's always getting into something. I told you it would be fun to keep her in the band."

Alvin shrugged, "Was she alright at least?"

"Yea, just dropped some dishes or somethin', so clumsy." Leo headed out the door, "See ya."

Alvin relaxed on his bed again, looking up at the ceiling. "Maybe I should go check on her anyway?" he asked out loud. He felt his pocket vibrate, and pulled out his cell phone.

_Sorry Al._

_In trouble with the cook._

_Got it under control._

_Finish watching it without me._

_Kyrie_

He chuckled and tucked his phone back into his pocket. "At least she doesn't seem mad at me."

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Pickles sat on the ground in his room, anxiously tugging a dreadlock. "Where is it…where is it…" he asked, slowly rocking himself back and forth. "It has to be some in here –wait!"

He jumped up from the ground and ran into his bathroom, yanking up a floorboard. Underneath the floorboard wrapped in dust and cobwebs was a blue glass bottle of tequila. He let out a sigh of relief, "I knew they couldn't find it all…"

He grabbed the bottle, immediately realizing from it's light weight that it was empty. He placed it to his lips anyway, in a feeble attempt to suck out anything which may have been left. Only the tequila vapors were present, teasing his alcoholic hunger. Pickles stood and smashed the bottle onto the floor.

"God damn douche bags taking all my damn liquor." He angrily cursed, leaving his room to search for alcohol.

As he trudged down the hall Pickles clenched and unclenched his fists, feeling the onset of alcohol withdrawal. His hands were beginning to shake uncontrollably, and he was unable to think clearly. He groaned softly, ignoring the figure which passed by him.

"Are you ok?" he heard Kyrie ask. Pickles eyes seemed dark, with bags hanging underneath them.

"Fine." He miserably responded, continuing down the hall.

"You don't seem fine." She said, growing concerned. She ran to catch up with him instead of returning to her room.

Pickles groaned again, irritated by her presence. "Unless you can get me booze, go away…"

"Oh." Kyrie said, keeping pace with him, "Jean-Pierre told me about that, you guys aren't allowed to drink a lot anymore, that must really suck." Pickles glared over at her,

"Of course it sucks." He bitterly retorted.

Without another word she took off running down the hall. Pickles decided if she was running that direction, then he was going the opposite so he wouldn't be bothered. He retreated back to his room and kicked open the door, not bothering to shut it again. He collapsed on top of his bed, trying to fight off a dull headache when three knocks came to the door. "Can I come in?" he heard Kyrie ask.

"Go away." he said, pulling a pillow over his head.

"But I brought something to help..." she said, stepping into his messy room.

He reluctantly pulled himself into a sitting position, more curious than annoyed about what her 'help' would be. In her arms were several bottles of wine and a few cans of beer that she had smuggled from the kitchen. His face lit up, and he snatched a can of beer out of her hands and chugged it. He quickly finished the first can and snagged the second, "Wow..." she said, amazed at his drinking speed.

Pickles sighed happily and slid to the floor, "It's been so long since I had a drink."

"But I just saw you drink at dinner." Kyrie said, looking down at him.

"Dude that was _hours_ ago." He reached for a bottle of wine and she passed it to him. He drank a small amount and quickly spit it out, "What the hell? This is cooking wine, I can't drink this."

"Why not?" she asked, unable to understand what the problem was.

"Cooking wine has more salt and crap in it, it'll make me sick."

She frowned, "Well….I could get more if you wanted. Jean-Pierre only said he couldn't give you more to drink, he didn't say anything about me."

Pickles gave her a puzzled look, "Why are you trying to get me alcohol?"

"You looked miserable without it…and…" she smiled, holding out the only bottle she had taken that wasn't designated for cooking, "I wanted to ask something of you. Kind of a you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours thing."

"What do you want?" he hungrily eyed the bottle in her hands.

"I'll get you alcohol, if you help me with drumming."

"No." Pickles laughed, and reached out to snatch the bottle from her.

She quickly pulled it away and huffed, "Then no alcohol for you."

Pickles rose from the ground and gazed at Kyrie, making her feel uncomfortable. She nervously glanced towards the door, thinking maybe it was a mistake to come there alone. He folded his arms across his chest,

"If this is gunna happen, then I want the alcohol that I want, not just stuff you randomly pick up."

"Of course!" Kyrie happily responded, "But…I can't buy any, I'm still to young."

Pickles poked through the nightstand next to his bed, "It's fine, I know it's gotta be more booze locked up in here, you just have to find it." He pulled a notepad and pen from the drawer, and began to scribble down what he wanted, "You get this stuff, and I'll give you a lesson."

"More than one lesson." She said.

Pickles looked over at her, "Two lessons?"

"I want a lesson for every bottle I bring back."

He frowned and looked down at his list, there were already at least 15 requests and he had barely begun. "A lesson for every five you bring me?" he bargained.

"No." she grumbled, "Every two."

He thought about this a moment, and then nodded. The Roadies weren't allowed to bring him anything to drink, so having her sneak it in would be his only option. "Fine." He ripped the page off the notepad and handed it to her. "But if you can't find what I want then no deal."

Kyrie nodded, looking over the list of 40 or so items, "This is a lot…are you stocking up on it?"

Pickles laughed, "Stocking up? This is all just for tonight."

* * *

_Notes _: A little late on the update, I've had the chapter done for a while but I've been caught up with the holidays! Don't forget to leave a review, thanks :D


	5. The Main Room

* * *

Chapter Five

**The Main Room **

* * *

Leo was seated comfortably on a chair in his bands rehearsal room, slowly strumming his guitar. His eyes were closed as he fine tuned his plan to get more information on Dethklok.

"You're getting so fast." Alvin said, clapping his hands. Leo peeked open an eye, watching as Kyrie energetically pounded her drum set. Over the past few days her drumming had become more tolerable, and she was managing to keep pace with the rest of the band. Leo was slightly interested in why she was making so much progress, but didn't care enough to ask.

As she rounded her drums a final time, Leo decided on his plan and rose from his seat. "Not bad, Zuzu." He said, setting his guitar against the wall.

She smiled at him, tucking a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. "Thanks! I've been practicing."

"I noticed, you're really improving." Leo tried to sound as sincere as possible, "You know what? I think we all are. With all this progress we're making we'll rock at our first opening. We should celebrate."

"How?" both Alvin and Kyrie were curious.

His innocent smile turned cynical, "We should go hang out in the Main Room here."

"No." The look on Alvin's face was serious, "We aren't allowed in there, it's against the contract."

"Stop being such a pussy and live a little Al." Leo folded his arms and looked over at Kyrie, "Zuzu went against the contract too and look at her, she's BFF's with the creepy chef now."

Kyrie looked down at her drum set, it wasn't all fun and games in the eerie kitchen. Jean-Pierre demanded a lot from her, and she was quickly learning that it was _very _different from cooking at home. Failure to follow his exact directions would mean disappointing Dethklok, and more importantly, disappointing Skwisgaar. She frowned, glancing over at Alvin who had the same intense look on his face.

"You can go, but Kyrie and I are staying here." he said, she nodded in agreement.

"God." Leo said in an irritated tone. As he tried to think of a new tactic to convince them to tag along, Alvin's phone rang.

"Hello?" he asked. Leo watched as his friends face lit up, and he quickly covered the phones receiver, "It's Emily, guys I have to take this call." Kyrie giggled as Alvin ran out the room, eagerly chatting up his girlfriend.

Leo grinned impishly, he only needed one person to serve as a distraction. "Zuzu…" she looked over at him as he advanced towards her, "Come on, don't be a tight wad like Al. It's lots of games in the Main Room, and a hot tub, and load's of TV's. You'll find something you like."

"I dunno…" Kyrie said looking towards the door, wishing Alvin would return and save her. "Al said it's a bad idea."

"Don't worry about him." Leo said, putting his charm on the younger girl. "You know, Skwisgaar hangs out in there all the time, can you _imagine_ hanging out in the same place he does?"

His grin widened as she started to consider this, he had convinced her to join the band using the same methods. "Well…" she paused a moment, "What if they're in there?"

"They're out right now, won't be back for a while." He said as he headed out the door. Kyrie remained in her seat, debating on whether or not she should follow him. She felt something press against her leg, and reached down feeling the outline of her locket through her blue jeans. She smiled to herself, slipping her drumsticks into her back pocket and dashing after Leo.

They silently made their way to the Main Room of the house, Kyrie keeping a lookout for Roadies, or worse, Charles. Leo glanced down at her as she looked around in a panic, "Relax."

"What if someone sees us?" she said worriedly. "I don't want to get into trouble, like, what if they make us leave? Or get us in legal trouble? Or make us—"

Leo shrugged, "Then we deal with it then, but if it's not happening now then don't worry about it." She looked up at him with large, childlike eyes,

"You are brave."

"Brave?" he chuckled, Alvin would have called him an idiot. "Yea, I guess I am." They stopped in front of a large, dull metal door. She felt both nervous and excited, waiting anxiously for the door to open. "Kyrie."

She was shocked, it was the first time he had ever called her by her name, "Yes?"

He placed his hand on the door and smiled, "I'm glad to have you in my band ."

She starred at him, unsure of how to respond. _'That's the nicest thing I think he's ever said to me…' _she thought to herself. After an awkward pause she finally smiled back at him, and he pushed open the doors of the Main Room.

Her eyes went wide at the spectacle before her eyes, it was far more luxurious than Leo had made it seem. The room was dark and 'metal' like the rest of the house, but was also full of various electronics. A variety of televisions were suspended from the walls and ceiling, with arcade machines to the right and a computer atop a black desk to the left.

"It's so amazing!" Kyrie gasped, running around the room to play with everything.

Leo shook his head as she bounced around the room, smiling to himself. He reached up, activating a camera disguised as decorations on his black t-shirt. "I am glad you're in my band." He said to himself as he quietly shut the door, "You are the perfect, dimwitted distraction."

Kyrie rubbed her nose as the foul smells of the room finally hit her. "Gross…" she kicked an empty bottle out of her way, wondering why the room was so filthy. She curiously eyed the group of arcade games, when the DDR machine caught her attention. She hopped on it, sifting through the death metal to find a familiar song.

"Bumble Bee!" she cheered, Dance Dance Revolution was one thing she knew she was at least _decent_ at.

"Are you ready?!" the machine shouted, she nodded excitedly.

_Sweet little bumble bee_

_I know what you want from me_

_Dub-di-dub-i duh-dah-dah_

_Dub-di-dub-i duh-dah-dah_

_Sweet little bumble bee_

_More than just a fantasy._

She looked as if she were gliding over the controls, almost never missing a step. Years of intense 'training' after school had molded her into a very talented player. Due to the loud music of the machine, she didn't hear the rattling at the door, or Dethklok enter the room with shopping bags in hand. They starred at her, surprised to find someone else in their entertainment area.

"What the hells she doings on **my** game?" Toki asked, an irritated look on his face.

Kyrie ducked down, hitting the up arrow and then spun around to hit the down arrow when she noticed them there. She stiffened in her awkward pose, as panicked thoughts raced through her mind, and fell backwards onto the ground.

"Game Over." the machine shouted.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Nathan asked, she looked at them from the ground. They hadn't made any attempt to enter the room, as if her presence had contaminated their area.

She quickly sat up, "I'm sorry, just, Leo said that—" she looked around the room, Leo was nowhere to be found. "He…Leo, he said that…"

"That dildo-licker said what?" Murderface asked, his harsh tone frightened the girl.

She sniffled, trying to fight back tears. "I'm sorry, please don't be angry."

Skwisgaar let out an exasperated sigh and walked into the room, heading for a couch, "These bags is heavy, I don't have's time to fuss with cry's baby's. Either get the hells out or stops' crying."

Kyrie was speechless, she opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. Everything she read, everything she knew, everything regarding her beloved Skwisgaar did not point to this type of behavior. Where was the sweet gentleman she fantasized about? She wanted to run away but her legs wouldn't move, so she covered her face in her hands, in an attempt to hide her tears.

"That was brutal." Nathan said, seeming a little sad. His reaction had more to do with the fact that she was a girl crying than with Kyrie herself.

Skwisgaar shrugged his shoulders, dropping his bags onto the floor and flopping onto a black couch with red cushions. Toki and Murderface followed his lead, plopping down onto sofa's while she cried on the other side of the room.

Pickles shook his head, wondering why they would be so cold to the person providing him with liquor. He set down his bag, and stood beside her, "Aw, com'on, don't cry." He said, attempting to cheer up her up, "Skwisgaar's just joking."

"No I's not." Skwisgaar quietly retorted, flipping through a guitar magazine.

"Yea, don't cry Zoom Zoom." Nathan said, standing next to Pickles, "I bet it's not your fault you're a crybaby."

Kyrie made a strange sound and then buried her face in her knees, crying harder. Pickles sighed, "Not helpful, Nathan."

Nathan frowned, trying to think of something that would quickly fix the situation. "You can stay in here if you want, we don't mind." his band mates glared daggers at him.

"You really don't mind?" she asked, sniffling.

"Ah…" Pickles frowned, it was to late to ask her to leave now, "Sure, yea. You can hang out here if you want to. Now no more crying."

She dried her tears with the bottom of her shirt, unintentionally revealing her midriff to the band, "I promise not to be in your way, and I won't bother you, or anything!" she smiled cheerfully up at them, making Nathan and Pickles cringe.

_'Too happy…'_ Pickles thought to himself. Now that Nathan had given her permission to be in the Main Room, he reluctantly realized that now he would have to see Kyrie when he went to relax there, when he ate, when he wanted alcohol, and when he was giving her lessons. He sighed, lifting his shopping bag off the ground and dragging his feet to a couch. He didn't want to divide his time with anyone, especially not someone as peppy or cheerful as she was.

"Thank you." Kyrie said to Nathan, who walked away from her without another word once she stopped crying. She stood off to the side by herself, while the band went about it's own activities as if she were not there. Nathan emptied a bag full of watched onto the table and began smashing them, while Toki tossed random store bought goods into the fireplace. Murderface was examining a new knife, and Pickles relaxed on a sofa, drinking liquor out of a container he had disguised as iced tea.

Kyrie's eyes wandered to Skwisgaar, who continued looking through his magazine._'He couldn't have possibly meant those mean things._' she thought to herself, deciding that the bags must of just been heavy and that had irritated him. She smiled, satisfied with that explanation and stepped back onto the DDR machine.

"Oh no's you's not." Toki said, stomping towards her. "That's mines don't touch."

She frowned, stepping away from the machine, "Toki don't be like that." Pickles said from the couch.

"Yea's, share with your little girlfriend." Skwisgaar smugly added. Kyrie was stunned, unable to rationalize the statement.

"That's it!" Toki shouted, clenching his fists. "I'ves had it with this goil! I hads to do's so much to be able to hangs out in here with yous guys when I first came heres, all she does is cry and she's in. It's not's fair!!"

Nathan crushed another watch under his boot, "Sounds like you're jealous."

"Jealous!? I'm not's jealous of some stupid goil!!" he shouted enraged, "I don'ts needs this! Screw you ALL off!!" he glared at Kyrie a final time, and then stormed out of the room.

The rest of the band didn't seem to mind the outburst, but Kyrie had endured enough for the day. "I need to excuse myself, thank you for letting me join you guys in here." She politely said, leaving the room.

Outside the main room she leaned against the wall, trying to understand everything that had just happened. There was a possibility that Alvin was right about Skwisgaar, and now it seemed that the rhythm guitarist couldn't stand her either? She sighed, sliding her fingers through her hair. "And where is Leo?" she wondered out loud.

Kyrie pulled out her phone to text him when she noticed the date in bold white letters. She quickly forgot her troubles and squealed with delight, "It's almost time!!"

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Leo stealthily made his way around Mordhaus, trying to find things which would be useful to General Crozier. He had snapped a few pictures of a dining hall, as well as the Main Room where he had deserted Kyrie. He was searching for more relevant information, but had trouble finding his way around the house.

"This place is like a fucking maze." He grumbled, stepping into an elevator. Leo looked at the various floor levels, unsure of where any of them led, and then randomly chose M8. He grew confused as the odd choice of elevator music blared at him through dark red speakers. "Didn't expect such cheesy music…" he muttered to himself.

When the elevator finally stopped Leo cautiously poked his head out, two Roadies were patrolling the hall with shotguns in hand. When they turned down another hall he quickly jumped out, pressing the tiny black button in his palm to take pictures. He was a little surprised by what he saw, although the rest of the house looked like a dungeon, this actually appeared to be one.

"Morbid as hell." He said, moving to get a picture of the cells.

Inside the first cell was a dirty teenage boy. He had bruises on his arms and legs, and dried blood matted his short blond hair. Leo snapped a few pictures, figuring the General would find torture information useful. The boy looked sadly up at Leo,

"Please help me…" he said in a raspy voice.

Leo starred at him, devoid of emotion, "Why?"

"All I did was download one song, now I'm trapped here…please help, the guards will be back soon."

Leo snapped another picture, "Where's the recording studio?"

"The what?" the boy asked, rattling the chains which bound him, "Recording studio? It's no time for that, hurry before they come back, please, I'm begging you! I need you!!"

"Tough luck kid." Was all Leo said before returning to the elevator to avoid being caught.

"I'll give you anything! Whatever you want!!" the boy shouted.

The elevator doors shut and Leo pulled out a black communicator from his pocket, quickly forgetting the boy. The screen on the communicator blinked a moment, then an image of General Crozier appeared. "Did you get the pictures?" Leo asked, "Some juicy stuff, huh?"

"Where are the pictures of the recording studio? Or information about the tour?" the General asked, unimpressed by Leo's efforts.

"I can't find it, all I found was what I sent you. Can't you use the dungeon shit or something?"

"We are already fully aware of that." The General said in an irritated tone, "Stick to getting information I ask for."

"I can't find anything else." Leo spat, the elevator came to a stop, "I need a map or something."

"I'll have one sent to you. Don't report back to me until you have the information I requested." The General's image disappeared, and Leo growled, shoving the communicator back into his pocket.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Alvin hummed happily to himself, packing one of his smaller suitcases while Kyrie buzzed around him. "It's so much different here than I thought it would be, it doesn't feel like anyone likes me."

"Stop worrying so much about whether people like you or not." He said, folding a shirt, "They don't matter, just focus on your drumming for the tour."

"But Skwisgaar was so mean!" she whined, "You know that's the only reason I even came here, what am I supposed to do if he is like you said? I don't think I could handle that."

Alvin placed the shirt into his suitcase, "The chef likes you, doesn't he?"

"Well…I think so. But that's just one person…"

"You're really nice to the Roadies too, they all seem to like you. Don't be so down about it, at least people here like you." He folded another shirt.

Kyrie sighed, understanding Alvin's point. If she did not remain at Mordhaus it would mean returning home, where things would be far worse. "I guess…" she sat on his bed and quietly watched as he finished packing, "How long will you be gone?"

He smiled and closed his suitcase, "Just a few days, Leo said he understands, I can't wait to see her!"

She nodded sadly, "Tell Emily I said hi..."

Alvin sighed, "I'm sorry I have to miss tomorrow, Kyrie. I just rarely get to see her since she went off to college, and I—"

"No, no!" Kyrie jumped up, "It's fine Al, I understand completely and I hope you have lots of fun and you guys can bond and stuff! I know you miss her a lot and I really-really understand."

He smiled at her, pulling his suitcase off the bed and hugging her. "I'll make sure you get at least something." He pulled away and she nodded, trying to seem as happy as possible. They walked into the hall and he closed the door behind them, "Be good, Kyrie. Happy early birthday!"

"Thank you." She said softly, watching as he disappeared down the hall.

She bit her lower lip gently, making her way back to her room. "It's like this every year…" she bitterly muttered to herself. She was not angry at Alvin, merely disappointed it would be another year alone.

Inside her room she sat on the floor, resting her head on the side of the bed. The day had been very difficult, and in an hour she would need to be in the kitchen to assist Jean-Pierre with dinner. She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling something soft hit her face.

Kyrie grabbed the plush item and held out her arms, examining it. "A teddy bear?" she asked, gazing at it's long, demonic tail. She raised an eyebrow, confused for a moment and then smiled brightly, "Aw Al!" she giggled, assuming this was what he meant when he said he would make sure she got something.

As she hugged the bear, a knock came at her door. "Who is it?" she asked, setting her new stuffed animal onto her bed.

"Pickles." The voice said. She cracked the door open and looked up at him. "I need more stuff."

"You drank it all_ that fast_?" she asked in disbelief, opening the door the rest of the way. He nodded, "It's uhm…almost dinner, can't you wait?"

"I need booze now." He pouted, shaking the empty container towards her. Kyrie starred at him a moment, then broke out in giggles. He cocked an eyebrow, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing." she said, gaining control of her laughter, "It's just, you look so cute when you pout!"

"Cute?" he asked, sounding offended, "I aint cute. Metal. Dark. Brutal…not _cute_."

"You are too!" she said giggling more and heading towards the kitchen, "Even more so when you fight it.I'll get you more to drink, but I'm counting this as one lesson."

"What?!" he shouted, tagging along behind her, "It's just a little refill, and I owe you a lot of lessons already. Can't we just let this one slide?"

She folded her arms across her chest as they advanced down the hall, "Well, you still do owe me 18 lessons, I'm not counting the last one since you were drunk the entire time."

"But I sat there for like three hours doing that stuff with you Kyrie."

"It only took three hours because you were drunk." She said in an irritated tone. Pickles' drinking had seemed harmless to her at first, but once she realized the extent of which her new teacher drank, she quickly changed her mind. "It's gross to drink like that."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Com'on, it's gotta be something I can do so that this won't be another lesson."

Kyrie grew quiet, trying to think of something else he could provide her with besides lessons. She considered asking him to hang out with her tomorrow so she wouldn't be alone. She looked up at him, the smell of alcohol rapidly drowning her senses, and decided she did not want to spend the day with an alcoholic. She sighed, thinking about Dethklok's rhythm guitarist, maybe she would ask what the issue was with him? The notion of 'guitarist' triggered thoughts of _him_, filling her with sadness.

"Skwisgaar…" she softly whispered.

"You have a thing for 'em, huh?" Pickles asked. The question seemed to shock the girl, who quickly looked away to hide her blush.

"N, no! What gave you that crazy idea?!"

"You uh, just said his name." they stopped in front of the kitchen door and she quickly ducked inside to avoid answering the question. Pickles rested against the wall, playing with the empty container in his hand.

Kyrie returned a few minutes later, "This is all I could find, Jean-Pierre was in there so I had to be sneaky." She handed him a bottle of gin. "I won't ask for another lesson, just answer this question for me."

"Sure." He said with a nod, and then drank directly from the bottle.

"Is…is Skwisgaar really mean, like earlier?"

Pickles thought while he drank, unsure of how to respond. An honest answer may repeat the crying scene from earlier, and a lie would…well, "He's not the same." Was all he was able to say before Kyrie jumped on him, hugging him tightly. The bottle of gin slipped out of his grasp, shattering on the floor.

"Thank you so much Pickles, I just knew he wasn't really like that!" Pickles frowned, feeling uncomfortable and reluctantly patted her back as a friendly gesture.

Kyrie pulled away, the same giddy smile on her face. "I'll get you more to drink, free of charge!" she skipped happily back into the kitchen, and he starred at the door, still feeling a little awkward about the incident.

"That girl is so odd." he finally said with a grin, scratching the back of his head.

* * *

_ Notes _: Kyrie's first encounter with Skwisgaar was not a pleasant one, poor her! It's kind of weird writing Toki in this as unkind (so far in the story...) because I'm so used to him being the opposite, hopefully he and Kyrie come to some sort of understanding soon. I'm always open to any idea's anyone may have or what they may like to see happen, slowly but surely this story is going to get somewhere! I made little eLouai doll edits of my OC's in this fanfic, going to post them in the next few chapters. Thanks **Luna** and **Marner** for the reviews, I really appreciate it. :D 'n for everyone else who may have stumbled onto this, please R&R!


	6. Surprise! Deddy Drama

* * *

Chapter Six

**Surprise! Deddy Drama**

* * *

Toki sat at a bench outside of Mordhaus wrapped in his thoughts. He and a team of Roadies had spent the entire night searching for his cherished Deddy Bear, but were unable to find it. He remembered leaving it on his bed prior to going shopping the day before, but when he returned to his room it was nowhere to be found.

"Where are you's Deddy?" he asked, wishing he could have a drink to calm his nerves. He had more on his mind than just the Deddy-dilemma, he felt strange after the incident with the DDR machine. Skiwsgaar's comment, coupled with the seemingly general acceptance of the girl had irritated him a lot…but he did not intend on lashing out as he did. He sighed, kicking a pebble.

"My lord." A Roadie said, approaching him with a cart full of bags, "The mail has arrived."

"Ok..." Toki mumbled as he slid off the table. Mail time usually excited him but today he couldn't get himself into the mood for it, too many things were wrong. He sighed as he quietly followed the Roadie into the house.

Inside a dining area of Mordhaus, Dethklok sat at a rectangular table deep in discussion. "I can'ts gets their guitarist lessons." Skwisgaar said, "I keeps trying but he always have excuses to's leave."

"Same thing with bass." Murderface added, "He just says he's busy when I ask."

"How are we suppose to get rid of them if they're to busy to get sabotaged?" Nathan huffed, they all looked at Pickles, wanting to know how his situation with the drummer was faring.

"I…er, can't get her advice either? Whatever you guys said." he shrugged, not wanting to reveal his deal with the girl.

Toki entered the room with the Roadie, taking the seat next to Pickles. "Fan mail's here." He sighed.

Murderface eyed the cart, "Just throw it in the fire, I hate fan mail."

"Shall I throw them all into the fire?" the Roadie asked, directing the question to Toki.

"I don't cares…" Toki sighed again, the rest of the band gave him a puzzled look.

"Dude you always read your mail." Pickles said.

"I's just not in the moods for it today…" he moped, "I think I needs to take me a personal days."

Skwisgaar glanced towards the doorway, "Just leaves the mail, we gets rid of it ourselves." The Roadie nodded, leaving the room.

"You take to many personal days." Murderface grumbled.

Toki shrugged his shoulder, "Well's, I still can'ts find's Deddy."

"OH." Nathan immediately understood the problem, "You still can't find him? That's been what, yesterday, today, two days now? That must suck…like, that must really really suck."

Toki sighed again. "You guys just make injury to insult."

They starred at him confused. "Oh, ah, you mean add insult to injury?" Pickles corrected.

Toki folded his arms and looked away, "Just burn all the stupid dildo's mail, I don't wants to read it noway."

"Aw come on Toki's," Skwisgaar said, going to the cart and retrieving the mail designated for the rhythm guitarist, "It make you feel betters to reads your mails, then you's find's your bear laters."

Toki grabbed the bag from Skwisgaar, pulling it open and emptying the contents onto the table. He felt better seeing all of the fan mail, and figured reading a few letters would help keep his mind off negative things. "What's this?" he asked, reaching for a large pink envelope with a balloon sticker on the front.

"Look at it all on fire." Pickles grinned, as he and the rest of he band tried to shove their fanmail bags into the fireplace at once.

"I don't see's why they waste's their time writing at us." Skwisgaar said as he kicked a bag into the fireplace. "Stupid fans, I hates them."

"Hey look guys." Toki said, marveling at the envelope in his hands, "This one for Kaay-ra-e. Kayharie? Who dat?"

Pickles went to the table while Nathan and Murderface kicked the remaining bags into the fire. He examined the envelope. "It's Kyrie, why is she gettin' mail here?"

"Kyrie?" Toki looked confused.

"Yea, the chick in the Barbed-band-thing. That's 'er name." Pickles responded. Toki flipped the envelope in his hands, curious about what it could contain.

"Open it." Nathan said, sitting near the fireplace.

Toki shook his head, "It's not our mails."

"Yea but it'll piss her off." Murderface snickered, "All we have to do is get her crying and I bet she'd leave, one person down, just have the other two douche bags left."

Toki shook his head again, "It's not rights to, I won'ts do it."

Skwisgaar grinned, "Aw, Toki doesn't wants' to upset his little girlfriend? How cute. You should go, you know, hand delivers it to hers'. Then you's can go makes out and have little babies that can't plays guitars or drums." Toki glared at him, consumed in anger. He didn't understand why Skwisgaar had to tease him so much about her, or why--

"...Oops." he said, looking down at his hands. In his anger, he had accidentally ripped open the letter for Kyrie.

Murderface snatched it out of his grasp, pulling out the card inside. "It says_'There it goes, another year. Growing older, full of cheer.'_" He opened it, " _'Happy Birthday! I told you I'd make sure you got at least something Kyrie.'_ It says its from Alvin."

"Mother-douchebags." Pickles said, slapping his forehead, "Why didn't she say somethin'?"

"She must be sad," Nathan said from the fireplace, "The lead guy is a dick to her, and the nice one isn't here."

"Is that all she got for mail?" Toki asked.

They looked to the fireplace, the rest of the mail had been consumed in flames, "I guess so." Murderface said.

"We should do's somethings for her." Skwisgaar suggested, "Have a party's, with cakes, and ice creams, and, uhm, foods, and that kind's of's girly stuff. She would love's it."

Toki raised an eyebrow. Ever since the girl had arrived Skwisgaar had been mean about anything concerning her. "Why you care if she get nothin'?" he asked.

"She cooks and stuff for us." Nathan said, "That's a good reason to do somethin', isn't it?"

"Yea," Pickles added, "I mean, what're we Nazi's or somethin'? It's her birthday, and we should do something nice since all she got was a crappy card."

"What do's we do?" Toki asked, getting excited about the idea.

Murderface sat back into his chair, "What do girls even like?"

They all looked at Pickles, "You spend a lot of time around her, what does she like?" Nathan asked.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Pickles responded, feeling awkward. The looks on his band mates faces suggested that they thought he was doing _a lot_ more than just giving her sabotaged-lessons, "It's not even like that." He spat, looking away irritated.

"We makes her a cake!" Toki chirped, "Like Skwisgaar say, and get balloons, and presents, it be so much fun guys!"

"But how're we gunna get her here? I'm not asking her to come." Murderface grumbled.

Their eyes fell upon Toki, who grew nervous from the stares.

"I got an idea." Pickles grinned.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Kyrie sat at her drum set, kicking her feet in the air. She was bored out of her mind without Alvin around, and Leo was still missing from the day before. She scowled at the thought of him,

"I swear when I find him that'll be his arse…" she murmured to herself as she leaned her head against the wall, and rocked back and forth in her chair. As she rocked, she mentally reviewed past lessons with Pickles, trying to decipher his drunken teachings. She smiled to herself, even if she wasn't doing anything special today at least—

She sat up quickly, looking towards the doorway, "Hello?" she asked, almost positive she saw something rush into the room. She looked around nervously, unsure if it was her imagination or some strange creation of Dethklok's.

"Hsssssssh…" something said from behind her. Kyrie jumped up to see what it was, but felt a hand cover her mouth and yank her away from the chair. Her eyes went wide with fear as she screamed and wiggled to get away from whatever _it_ was. "Hssssh…" it said again.

Kyrie struggled more, and in a desperate attempt to get away she bit down on one of the captors fingers. "Yooooowie!!" he yelped, releasing the girl to tend to his finger. Kyrie turned quickly, squeezing her eyes shut,

"NO MEANS NO STRANGER!!" she screamed, the reaction she was taught as a child if anyone tried to snatch her. She kicked the mystery man as hard as she could between his legs, catching only a glimpse of brown hair as she fled out of the room.

Kyrie ran as fast as she could, desperately searching for help. _'Where the hell are the Roadies?!'_ her mind screamed. She dashed down another hall, seeing bright white lights ahead and ran to the room.

"SURPRISE!" Dethklok shouted.

Kyrie froze, her body looking as if it were in a paused running motion. "S…surprise?" she asked. The dining room had been transformed into a party room, with pink and white themed balloons, streamers, and various other star shaped decorations. Her eyes fell upon a banner, which read :

'_HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOOM ZOOM_ '

She relaxed from the awkward pose, starring at the band. "What is all this?"

"It's for your birthday." Nathan sounded almost cheerful, "We found out it was today from a little birdie."

"I believe _this_ belongs to you." Murderface said in a dramatic tone. He winded his arm up, as if he were throwing a baseball, and pitched a balled up piece of paper at the girl. It landed a few feet in front of her, "God damn stupid piece of paper!" he cursed.

She laughed nervously, and snagged the paper off of the floor. Upon unraveling it she saw it was a card from Alvin, and couldn't help but frown, "Why did you ball it up…?" she said in a small voice, upset it had been ruined.

"You ungrateful little—"

Pickles stomped on Murderfaces foot to end the rude remark, "Look at all the decorations! Aint it nice? And girly?"

"It's so pretty!" she said, smiling brightly at the band, "I mean, I can't believe this is all for me, it's so awesome. Thank you so much!"

"Well's don't just stands there." Skwisgaar grinned, "Take a seats, birthday's girl!"

She blushed as he gently took her hand and lead her to a special seat. She felt her heart flutter, and noted the softness of his hand. A Roadie placed a paper crown on top of her head and Jean Pierre came from the kitchen with a small white cake in his hands. "You said you like strawberries," The chef said, placing the cake in front of her, "So I have prepared a fresh strawberry cake with sweet vanilla icing."

Kyrie smiled at him, not wanting to reveal that she hated vanilla. "Thank you! I can't wait to try some."

"Would you like any candles?" the chef asked, searching for some in his pocket.

She grinned, "Eighteen please!"

"You's only eighteen?" Skwisgaar asked, as he and the rest of the band looked her over. They had suspected that she was young, but eighteen seemed ridiculous. She nodded,

"No more jailbait." She innocently said, not realizing the dirty thoughts her statement triggered in the men.

"Where's Toki?" Pickles quickly asked, looking around the room and eagerly pushing the dirty thoughts out of his mind.

"Toki?" Kyrie looked around as well.

"He was suppose to pretend to kidnap you." Nathan said, her mouth dropped.

"W…why would he pretend to kidnap me?"

Skwisgaar laughed, "For the party, makes it more of's a surprise." She cocked her head to the side, unsure why they would think something so bizarre would be a good idea.

From the hall they heard Toki groaning, slowly limping his way to the room. "She--she kicked me in the balls!" he shouted, holding his crouch and wincing in pain, "I go surprise her and she kick me in the balls!!"

Kyrie covered her mouth, unsure of what to say, "I'm, uhm…you scared me, so…so next time don't do that!"

"That all you got to say?!" Toki growled, he then muttered things in a language Kyrie couldn't understand.

Skwisgaar shook his head, seeming disappointed, "Toki it hers' birthday, don't say such things."

"Dude, presents!" Pickles said, they all (but Toki) disappeared into a side room. Toki took the chair at the opposite end of the table, angrily eyeing Kyrie.

"I'm sorry." She said, "I didn't mean to hurt you." He gave her the angry look a few seconds longer, then faltered and looked away.

"I wanna go first!" Murderface said from the side room, "Get this out of the way, I want some damn cake."

The band reappeared with gifts in hand, "Here." Murderface said, extending a black box towards the girl. Kyrie hesitated a moment, afraid to take anything from a person that scared her so much. "What, you don't want it?" he grumbled, she quickly took it out of his hands and opened it.

"It's…a knife?" she asked. In the box was a small silver dagger with a black hilt and golden outlining. A red gemstone rested at the bottom of the hilt, which Kyrie marveled at.

"No big deal, just the knife that killed the king of France." Murderface proudly boasted.

"They don't even have a king." Nathan protested.

Murderface glared at him, "I know that! It was King Henry III. He was takin' a shit when this friar jumped out of nowhere and ripped out his guts, then the friar was stabbed to death with the same knife, blood and guts everywhere!"

Kyrie gently put the box down, trying to hide her disgust for the historically morbid item. "Thank you…"

"My turn." Pickles said, pushing Murderface out of the way. He handed her a box, much like the one Murderface had given her. She frowned, scared of what would be inside of this one.

"Whoa…" To her surprise, it was a pair of drumsticks.

Pickles grinned, "Those are my signature sticks, a lot better than the ones you're using now."

She smiled brightly at him, "Thank you so much Pickles!"

"Didn't even like my gift…" Murderface muttered to himself, feeling a little jealous.

"I, uhm, didn't know what to get you, for you, for your birthday." Nathan said, seeming to stumble over his words. He handed her a CD, "It's Dethwater, you like death metal right?"

Kyrie nodded, she was learning to like it at least. "It says it's for fish only…?"

"Yea, don't worry about that. It's no big deal." Behind Nathan Skwisgaar stood with something behind his back.

"I gots you something good." He said with a grin, revealing a Reverse Flying V Gibson guitar to her.

Kyrie jumped out of her seat, "Are you serious?!"

Skwisgaar grinned, proud to have out-gifted his band mates, "Yea's, it's pretty amazings huh? I figure, I's not using it, maybe the drummer's can."

"Thank you!!" she cheerfully said.

"She's a drummer." Pickles seemed irritated, "Why would you get her a guitar?"

"I wanted to learn to play guitar first." she said, "...but all I could get my hands on were drums…and…uhm…" she looked away shyly, "So, I don't know how to play…would you teach me, Skwisgaar?" Her mind went wild with thoughts of forbidden-love between teacher and student.

"I's not recommends that." Toki said, seeming to be in less pain now, "Skwisgaar not a good teacher."

"Where's _**your**_ gift Toki's?" Skwisgaar asked in an accusing tone, placing the guitar on the table with the other gifts.

Toki crossed his arms, "She kick me in the balls, **and** she bite me, I's not giving's her nothing." He looked over at the girl, who starred down at her lap, clenching her fists. The paper crown he had made for her fell off of her head and onto the table. He frowned, afraid he had upset her, and moved to get his gift when she looked up at the band, watery eyed.

"Thank you so much." She said, biting back her tears, "It's so perfect…everything is, it means so much to me, it really does." They starred at her, unsure how to respond to the strange display of emotion. She giggled, wiping her eyes, "Let's eat some cake!"

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Toki sat at the work bench in his room, stuffed with cake and ice cream. On his desk was a pink and blue beaded bracelet tied together with a piece of white yarn. He was proud of his creation, hoping the gift would be his chance to patch things up with Kyrie, or to at least show her he wasn't such a bad guy. He hopped out of his seat and grabbed the bracelet, making his way to her room.

He could hear her music blasting from down the hall, she was obviously enjoying Nathan's gift. He hesitated at her room door, having second thoughts about trying to befriend the girl. Dethklok's plan was, after all, to get rid of their opening act. Wouldn't she hate him once they got rid of the Barbed Brothers? _'Maybe's she will still want's to stay?'_ Toki thought to himself, the idea made him smile as he knocked on the door.

"I'm not getting you anything to else to drink!" Kyriei shouted over the music. Toki starred at the door confused, and knocked again. After a few seconds she swung open the door, "I said I'm no—oh, Toki?" she gazed up at him with deep blue eyes.

"I wanted to gives you your present from me." He said as he shyly handed her the bracelet.

"Aww!" she said, taking it out of his hands, "I love it! Thank you Toki!" he watched as she slipped it onto her wrist. "It's so cute!"

"I'm glad you's like's it." He said as he twiddled his thumbs behind his back, feeling nervous.

The two stood silent, looking at the wall, and then the floor, making the air thick with tension. "I really appreciate what you guys did today, I thought I'd just be alone again." Kyrie finally said.

"Alone again's?" he curiously asked, eager to learn more about her.

"Oh, it's nothing." she said, changing the subject. "No hard feelings about earlier? I really didn't mean to hurt you, I was just scared."

"I understands." Toki cleared his throat, "Plus I…uhm, wanted to says sorry's about yesterday."

She looked surprised, "I didn't think any of you did the whole apologizing thing…doesn't seem like a very'brutal' thing to do, or whatever you guys say."

Toki giggled at her use of the word, "You say it funny."

"Say what funny?"

"Brutal." He said, peeking into her room, "You's room is so different, and goily."

"…goily?" she giggled, adoring his accent.

Toki nodded, looking into her room more. "You gots a bathsrooms in there? It look too tiny for one."

Kyrie moved to the side, "Wanna come in? We can tease each other about how we say words funny." Toki smiled brightly at her, and she couldn't help but smile back, feeling as if a friendship had been sparked.

"Do you likes it heres?" he asked, snooping around her stuff.

"Yup yup. It's awesome being here, you guys don't mind us here…do you? Like me and the rest of the band…feels like you guys can't stand us sometimes, especially your manager."

"No, we likes you guys." Toki said, poking through her closet as music continued to blare in the background.

She admired him from a distance, _'He seems so adorable…'_ she thought to herself, '_Just like a little kid…and look at all that beautiful hair!'_ He moved to the dresser, and opened the first drawer. It was the one that she kept her underwear and other unmentionables in, and she quickly jumped to shut it back.

"That's off limits." She said, blushing a bright shade of red.

Toki looked at her, wide eyed and innocent. "Ok."

Kyrie blushed, leaning against the dresser as he flopped onto the bed. She giggled at how quickly he made himself comfortable in her room. He suddenly jumped up from the bed, extending his hand towards something on it.

"Deddy?"

She followed his eyes to the stuffed bear, "Isn't he cute? It was a gift from—"

"No." Toki said, snatching the bear off the bed, "You took Deddy…how could you's?"

"What?"

Toki glared at her, clutching the toy, "How could you? I thought you's was a nice goil!"

Kyrie grabbed half of the bear, yanking it from him, "What are you talking about? It's my bear."

"Get offs!" Toki shouted, pulling it from her. The two began a tug-of-war with the bear.

"It's mines, let it go Toki!"

"It's my Deddy!!"

"No it's not!!"

"Yes it is!!" Toki shouted a final time, yanking it with all his might. Deddy Bear ripped in half, the stuffing falling into a pile on the floor. Toki's mouth dropped, and his eyes went wide at the horror before him.

"Look what you did!!" Kyrie shrieked, falling to her knees to pick up the pieces.

Toki's eyes began to water, "You…you killed's Deddy…I HATE YOU'S!!" he screamed, running away as fast as he could.

* * *

_Notes_ : I could not think of a better ending statement, maybe next time...! Classes started up again and I'm bummed out, because I'll be updating alot less frequently. I didn't proofread this as much as I did the other chapters, but I'll go through it in a day or so to catch my mistakes. Since my story is a little more established now, I'm glad I won't have to focus on the OC's as much anymore, and I can deal with more Dethklok and Barbed Brothers interacting. As I said last chapter, here are the eLouai doll edits of my OC's:

i154(dot)photobucket(dot)com/albums/s262/slowgrace2/grouppicture(dot)jpg

Where ever it says (dot) replace with a period (.).

Only thing that really changes is Kyrie doesn't wear the bandanna after the first chapter, and she dun wear bright red lipstick...just lip gloss. I don't own the dolls or anything, I just slightly edited them from eLouai(dot)com. Much love to **Marner** (I'm glad I made him seem nice and evil! That was my goal and I'm glad I accomplished it! ), **Luna** (It's gunna be a fun love triangle :3), and **metal** (thanks!)! Please R&R!


	7. Let's Be Friends!

* * *

Chapter Seven

**Let's Be Friends!**

* * *

"It looks beautiful tonight…" Kyrie whispered, perched against the window seal. Her room was far from the ground and a guard tower blocked most of the view, but she enjoyed what little she could see. Black and violet patches of sky bordered the giant stone guard tower, illuminating the darkness with bright white stars. She could see the moon shrouded in red mist, peeking over the tower as it made it's way across the night sky.

It was the third day in a row Kyrie was having trouble falling asleep. She couldn't understand the abrupt spur of insomnia, the incident with Toki hadn't been _that_ traumatic. **Yes** she had remained in her room since it had occurred, and **yes** she hadn't been helping in the kitchen; and _**yes **_she had been neglecting the deal with Pickles…but the situation didn't bother her _that much_, did it?

"Who am I kidding?" the girl sighed, turning away from the window. The situation did bother her a lot, and she wanted to fix it, she just didn't know how to.

Toki seemed very irrational; hating her at the birthday party, liking her later that day, and then hating her after_ he_ had ruined_ her _bear. Kyrie frowned, remembering Alvin's text message that the ill-fated bear was not a gift from him, so where had it come from? Her eyes wandered to the corner of her room, where the remains of the bear had been swept into a neat pile.

A few knocks came to the door and Kyrie tensed up, afraid it might be Pickles again. "Hey Kyrie," the person said, she recognized Alvin's voice, "I just got back from Emily's."

Kyrie looked towards the closed door, "Did you have fun?"

"Uh, yea, we had a great time." he said, eager to chat, "Can I come in?"

"Actually, I'm not feeling very well." She responded, faking a cough. "It must be that bug that was going around."

"Oh…" he sounded disappointed, "Well, make sure you get some rest and drink plenty of water. See you tomorrow at practice!"

She let out a sigh, relieved it wasn't Pickles again. During the first two nights of her solitude he had pounded on the door, demanding liquor. When Kyrie refused to even answer him, he became infuriated. But Pickles hadn't been by this night, and it was starting to concern her. She knew alcohol withdrawal could drive a person crazy, and after three days maybe it was time to pay her teacher a visit.

Kyrie grabbed the 'emergency' bottle of rum she had hid in her closet, a precaution she had taken after learning the extent of Pickles' alcoholism. In her experience, whenever a person became intoxicated they adopted a cruel or reckless personality. Yet Pickles seemed to change from dark and brutal to cheerful and goofy. She liked the drunk version more than his sober alter ego, although drunk-Pickles didn't accomplish much and tended to be a little more 'hands-on' with her.

She waited a few minutes before heading to Pickles' room, not wanting to run into a worried Alvin. Kyrie had spent most of her life looking after herself, but since she had met Alvin he had taken it upon himself to look after her. It was nice to be around someone who cared, but his brotherly love could get annoying from time to time. When Kyrie finally poked her head into the hall she saw nothing but black, and gazed up the body of a very tall, very muscular Roadie.

"Hello?" she asked, surprised to see someone there. The Roadie said nothing, merely starred down at her. "Why are you standing here?" He responded with more silence. "Are you mute or something?"

He grunted, and Kyrie took it as a 'yes'.

"That's cool, I've never met a mute person before. " She said, closing the door behind her, "Well, uhm, it was nice meeting you, Mister Mute. I have to go see Pickles now."

As she proceeded down the hall, she could hear the man following a few steps behind her. "Why are you following me?"

Silence.

Kyrie turned towards the man, "Are you suppose to be following me?" the Roadie nodded, "How come?"

Silence.

"Mister Mute…" the girl huffed, growing irritated by the silence, "You really need to learn to talk." In her irritation she didn't hear her locket fall to the ground, or notice the Roadie pick it up.

"Which way was his room again…" she wondered aloud as they approached an intersection of halls.

The Roadie secured the silver trinket into his pocket and stepped towards the left hall, glancing back at her. Kyrie looked down the hall and back at the Roadie, then down the hall again. She was glad to be in the presence of someone who knew their way around.

"I hope Pickles is alright," she said as she skipped down the hall, holding the bottle of rum close to her body, "No alcohol three whole days….he was fretting before after only a few hours. Oh, and Toki! I wonder if he's still angry at me, it wasn't so bad, I mean, I should be the one yelling at him for ripping my toy!"

She looked up at the Roadie, who stared forward, eyes fixated on the path ahead. She huffed again, "Jeez, you could at least pretend to listen."

He suddenly stopped, and Kyrie checked to see why, noticing the door to Pickles' room. "That was fast! I usually have to wander around forever to find anything here."

The Roadie pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the door, motioning Kyrie to go inside. She looked into the room, seeing only darkness. "I—I can't…" she said, taking a few steps back. The Roadie motioned again, and she shook her head no. "It's too dark in there…"

The man took a small candle from a lighting fixture on the wall and handed it to the girl. She reluctantly accepted the candle, "Can't you come in too?" she asked in a small voice. The Roadie shook his head no, and stood against the wall as if he were guarding the room. Kyrie took a deep breath in an attempt to muster her courage, then slowly ventured into the pitch black room.

"P…Pickles?" she whispered, hoping he could hear her. "I brought something for you." She held out the candle in an attempt to brighten the room, but all she could see was the filth on the brown stone ground surrounding her.

The door suddenly shut behind Kyrie and she jumped, accidentally dropping the candle. "No, no, no!" she cried as she smothered the small fire. She sighed with relief once the flame was extinguished, but her mood quickly shifted to terrified. Her eyes widened and she clutched the bottle of rum. _'It's not too dark…this is…nothing…not afraid, not afraid…not afraid…'_

"Pickles?" she desperately called out. She could see an alarm clock on the opposite side of the room, and audible snoring sounds resonating from what appeared to be the outline of a bed. She grew uneasy in the darkness, feeling fear consume her. "PICKLES?" she screamed.

"What?" he sleepily groaned, face buried in a pillow. "Why are you yelling? It's fucking five in the morning."

"Pickles turn on the light I'm scared!" she sniffled.

She heard a few cans fall to the floor as he felt around for the lamp switch. "What the hell're you doing in here at this hour?" Pickles asked, sitting up.

Kyrie turned around quickly, a soft pink blush covering her cheeks. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Why, uhm, are you in your underwear?"

"Never seen a guy in his underwear before?" he retorted, she shook her head no. "That's…ah, doesn't matter. How the hell did you get in here? I locked the door, I know I did."

"Mister Mute let me in."

"Mister what?" he asked confused.

"A Roadie let me in!" she peeked around her shoulder, still blushing, "I wanted to talk to you, can you cover yourself please?"

"Why should I?"

"Because…" she waved the bottle of rum in the air, "No alcohol if you don't do it."

"Can't hold that over me no more, Charles got the alcohol restriction taken off earlier today."

Kyrie frowned, looking sadly at the bottle. "Guess I'll go then…"

"Doesn't mean I don't want that too." he said, pulling a blanket over his lower body. "There, happy now?" she smiled, handing him the bottle and sitting at the edge of the bed.

"Where you been the past couple days?" he asked, "All that work we put into that party for you and not a damn bit of gratitude."

"I said thank you…a lot." She said, shocked by his abruptness. "I didn't mean to not answer you before when you came to my room. Me and Toki had a…fight, I guess, so I've been keeping to myself."

Pickles took a sip from the bottle, "He said somethin' about that, you really pissed him off taking his bear like that."

"_His bear_?" she snapped, "It's not even his, it's mine."

"Brown teddy bear, tan stomach, smiley face, long devil tail?" he asked, Kyrie nodded, "Yea, that's his."

The girl frowned, "I don't believe you…if it really is his then how did it get into my room? I mean, I didn't take it." he shrugged his shoulders, barely listening as she went on about how impossible it was for the bear to belong to Toki.

'_She must really like that thing…or really like talking.'_ Pickles thought to himself, sipping more rum. The dim lamp in the room cast an eerie glow on the girl, making her eyes seem larger and darker. Her hair was loose, a style Pickles liked more than the childish pigtails she usually sported. Kyrie's white camisole was a little tight, making her breasts stand out, and she wore a pair of loose-fitting baby blue pajama bottoms which added to the innocent allure. The expression on her face seemed so determined, so positive that the teddy bear belonged to her. _'She looks kinda cu—er, nice...' _

"You know what I mean?" she asked, turning her attention back to Pickles.

"Uh…yea, sure." He mumbled, not wanting to admit he hadn't been paying attention.

"And it really is Toki's? Like, you're way-way sure?"

"Pretty sure."

Kyrie sighed and slid off his bed, "That blows…but I guess I better get to work. Thanks Pickles, sorry for waking you!" She said with a smile, waving as she left the room.

As she made her way back to her own room, the Roadie followed closely behind, "I like talking to Pickles, Mister Mute. He's really nice, and isn't scary like the other guys. Don't you think?"

Silence.

"I bet you do too. What should I do to make Toki not hate me anymore? I was thinking I could make him something special…what does he like?" she looked up at the Roadie who stared forward. "Well, first I should probably fix the damage I've already caused….then I can do the other stuff."

Kyrie sighed, wishing the Roadie could speak to her. "I need some black thread, and a needle. Do you think you could get that for me?" the man nodded, "Oh! And maybe a little more stuffing too, please?"

He grunted a 'yes' and then left to seek out the requested material.

Kyrie pushed open the door to her room, scooping the tattered bits and pieces of the bear into her arms, eager to make things right.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

After a few hours of tedious work, Kyrie held the toy out in her arms. "You look good as new Deddy!" she sleepily said. "Now to deliver you with breakfast."

Kyrie went to the hall to show the helpful Roadie her finished work, but he was nowhere to be found. "I guess he has other silent business to attend to." She giggled to herself. As she made her way to the kitchen, Kyrie could smell her perfume emanating from the bear. She had spritzed it a few times since the scent made her happy, and she thought that maybe it would have the same effect on Toki.

"I see you have decided to return! " Jean-Pierre said once she entered the kitchen, "I was beginning to think my sternness had frightened you away."

Kyrie smiled, "No way, I love being in here. Cooking is my passion!" she set down the bear and began washing dishes, "Sorry about not coming around, how were things without me?"

"Perhaps a little more boring without my assistant. My Masters have been complaining as well…" he said as he limped to a cupboard, "They seem to enjoy your commoner method of food preparation, you should feel honored."

Kyrie beamed proudly, "Really?! What do they like?"

The chef chuckled, "You excel at common dishes, but your gourmet meals need work…we cannot afford to have you making anyone else ill."

She laughed nervously, as the food poisoning incident came to mind. She hadn't understood the chef's directions, and had undercooked a special meal for the Roadies which resulted in 15 being sent to the emergency room. "Who's up for breakfast?"

"It was a very long night, my Masters were drinking heavily and most did not retire until _very_ early in the morning…but I believe Master Toki is awake."

"I'll be right back!" she said excitedly, grabbing the bear off the counter and running to the dining hall.

At the main dining table Toki sat with a model plane in his hands, starring down at it sadly. Kyrie frowned, he seemed so depressed, _'Is it really because of this toy?'_ she looked down at the bear which seemed smiled innocently at her. She put the bear behind her, and cleared her throat.

"Good morning." she said, Toki looked up at her droopy eyed, "How're you?"

He looked back down at his plane sadly, "Just go away's."

"I'm sorry about the other day…" she said as she approached the table, and Toki ignored her the best he could, "I really am…I thought it was a birthday gift, but I guess I was wrong. I don't know how it got into my room, and I guess…I shouldn't of acted the way I did."

Kyrie held out the bear, "I want to make up for it, though."

"Deddy?!" Toki shouted, jumping up and snatching the bear from her. He checked it over, front and back, and then hugged it tightly. Kyrie couldn't help but laugh, it was the first time she had ever seen a grown man so emotional over a teddy bear.

Kyrie held out her hand, "Can we try the whole friends thing again? I promise not to break your things this time!"

Toki looked suspiciously at her hand, and then up at Kyrie. She was gesturing for a friendly handshake, and was surprised when Toki leapt over the table and hugged her. "You fixed Deddy, good as new. Wowie! It's the best ever!" She felt overwhelmed with joy, and happily returned the hug.

"What _the hell_ are you douche bag's doing?" Murderface hissed as he entered the dining room, surprised to see them so close together.

The two quickly separated, "I fixed stuff with Toki, we are friends now!" Kyrie cheered. Toki felt nervous, knowing Murderface would disapprove of the friendship and afraid of what he might say to the girl.

"I thought you hated her." was all he said.

"She fixed Deddy!" Toki said, holding out the bear towards Murderface and hoping that would be explanation enough. "Don't he look good's as new?"

Murderface eyed the bear, then Kyrie. "Demon spawn." He spat.

Kyrie blinked, confused. "Ok …so uh, what would you like for breakfast Toki?"

"Chocolate cereal's!" Toki said, sitting back at the table with Deddy at his side.

She pulled out a notepad, noting cereal for Toki. "What about you, William?"

Murderface seemed pained hearing her address him by his first name. "Eggs...and bacon…"

Kyrie nodded as she wrote it down, and happily bounced back to the kitchen. Once they were alone Murderface glanced over at Toki, who seemed happy with the situation and his newly fixed teddy bear._'Never gonna get rid of her at this rate.'_ The bass player angrily thought to himself.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

"I bet I can beat you at Space Invaders III!" Kyrie playfully challenged as she and Toki raced through the main room.

"No ways, I beats you!" Toki shouted back to her, slowing his running pace so she could keep up with him.

From the hot tub, the rest of Dethklok seemed irritated. "Hey, it's slippery in here, stop running!" Pickles scolded, as if he were talking to children. The youths ignored him, and began running faster.

"NO RUNNING." Nathan shouted. Kyrie and Toki couldn't help but giggle, thrilled to get a rise out of the lead singer. They proceeded to the games walking at a fast pace, whispering excitedly to each other. It disgusted the band.

"I thought they hated each other." Pickles muttered, taking a gulp of his umbrella drink.

Skwisgaar toyed with his guitar under the water, "Yea, wells, it's simple, the man's rely on the womans, and when she helps him they gets' closer. You's knows how 'de woman's fix the stuff for 'de man like, his pants button break and she puts it back on with needle." They starred at him confused, so Skwisgaar tried another example. "Ok's like, when you's little kid, and you break's you wooden horse toy, and your friend fixes it…and then you's two get close." He scowled, they still didn't understand what he was trying to say. "Nevermind's...but it's nice to see Toki's finally accepting his little girlfriend."

"**What**? Now you like her _too_?" Murderface complained.

"I's not say that, you's jump to conclusions." Skwisgaar grumbled. "I'm just sayings' that maybe's she is not's so bad."

Murderface clenched his fists. "Why are you guys letting her trick you? She's nothing but a evil little soul murderer."

"It's not a trick dude, look at Toki." Pickles said, "C'mon Murderface, look how happy he is." Murderface refused to look.

"Fine then, but don't come crying to me when you wake up and that succubus is sucking all the life out of you."

Nathan paid no attention to the comment, and checked the time on a suspended television, "Alright Toki and Zoom Zoom stop horsing around, we have to get back to rehearsal in like…5, 10 minutes."

"Aww!" the girl whined, clinging onto Toki's arm, "But we just got here, can't we play a little longer?"

"No." the band unanimously grunted.

"Ya see Kyrie, Toki actually _needs_ to practice for the tour." Pickles said, she scowled at him.

"You guys are just mean." Kyrie huffed. Toki smiled down at her, it was refreshing to have someone so different in the house.

From behind a black set of curtains, Leo took a final picture and then slipped out of the main room and into the hallway. "I can't believe they didn't see me." He whispered, pulling the map from General Crozier out of his pocket. He had learned it was easy to get the basic information about the bands lifestyle, but it was proving to be very difficult to figure out which recording studio held the information he needed.

Mordhaus was a labyrinth, many halls lead to no where and some rooms were not rooms at all, they were designed to be deadly traps._'Ofdensen really doesn't want people snooping around.'_ Leo thought to himself. The day before his head was almost chopped off by a motion activated robot clad in Viking attire, it took Leo hours to finally escape from the metallic monster. Of the thirteen recording studio's indicated on the map, he had only explored four. Today's target studio was just a little farther ahead.

"Here we go." Leo said, unlocking the door with the skeleton key Crozier had provided.

The room was sparsely lit with red, glowing circular decorations. Leo quickly located the light switch and flipped it on, noticing atop of a panel of flashing lights a folder with 'Dethcapade' written in black Sharpe. _'This is too easy!'_ he grinned. As he approached the folder he could feel his heart begin to pound, this may have been the only thing he needed to achieve fame.

"Hey! What are you doing in here?!" Leo turned around quickly, a Roadie stood poised to attack.

"Nothin, just looking around." Leo said smoothly, trying to mask his fear and frustration of being caught. "It's lots of expensive stuff in here, you know? I just wanna see how the big boys do their recording."

"No one, with the exception of my Lords, is permitted in this room. Leave. Now."

"Alright, alright." Leo said, "Total mistake, I didn't realize you guys were so serious about this."

The Roadie said nothing more, watching Leo intently as he headed down the hall. Once the boy was out of sight, the Roadie raised a communicator to his face, "My lord, it was just as you had suspected."

Inside of his office in Mordhaus, Charles nodded to himself. "He took the bait?" he spoke into the communicator.

"Yes sir."

"Very well then, keep an eye on him and report back to me if he engages in any more suspicious activities." Charles set down the communicator, sitting back into his chair.

He had suspected the opening act was up to something the moment he saw the girl with them, and now it seemed the pieces were starting to fall into place. He had assigned a Roadie to each member, keeping tabs on their activities and reporting back every 24 hours. It was time consuming precaution, but the manager felt he was taking appropriate measures to secure Dethklok.

Charles looked through the report from # 317. "It says here that the girl was alone with Pickles for about fifteen minutes?"

The very tall, very muscular Roadie nodded.

"A lot can happen in fifteen minutes…were any noises coming from the room?"

The Roadie said nothing. Charles had known the man didn't speak, but since he hadn't made any sort of motions the manager assumed the question had confused him.

"Were they having sex?"

#317 shook his head no.

"Very well then, continue keeping an eye on the girl. You are dismissed." Charles said, looking through each report again. Out of the band, Alvin appeared to be the only one not breaching the terms of the contract. Charles was finally on legal grounds to send the Barbed Brothers home, but he decided to wait. "I want to know exactly what these kids are up to."

* * *

School wise I finally have things under control! I think I got most of the errors in this chapter. My goal with this story is for Kyrie to gain the acceptance of Dethklok, so I wanna make it as difficult as possible for her. :D This was a little hard for me to write for some reason. I think the issue is that I've planned out so many chapters, I'm like planning chapter 12 and still haven't completely written chapter 7... wtf :(

Thankies **Luna** (I couldn't make them stay mad at eachother ;o; ),** Dick** (Stuff ish osm!), **Marner** (thanks for the happy b-day xD 'n make sure you update soon I heart yer fic!) , **Lynza **(Character deaths keeps things interesting --ebil laugh--!),** firefly **(xD Thankies ) AND **Domi** (I'm glad you came here! I want to recruit as many people as possible to come here, we need more Metalocalypse fanfics!) if anyone else read and did not review...THANKS TO YOU TOO


	8. The Secret Is Out

* * *

Chapter Eight

**The Secret Is Out **

* * *

"Gentlemen." Senator Stampingston announced, standing before the Tribunal. A large wide screen television flickered on behind him, displaying an image of Dethklok to the left, and opposite of that an image of the Barbed Brothers. "It appears Dethklok has decided to keep their opening act, this could prove to be a colossal problem."

"I don't see what we have to fear out of this fool band." Vater Orlaag spat, "What threat could they possibly pose?"

On the monitor behind the senator another image of the Barbed Brothers covered the screen. "They pose no threat alone. We are more concerned about what _impact_ the bands will have on each other."

"What do you mean?" General Crozier asked, the rest of the Tribunal silently wondered the same thing.

"These two bands are vastly different, and they will be constantly together for the duration of Dethklok's upcoming tour. It is currently unclear whether their interactions will matter at all, but if it is as we have predicted, either Dethklok will mold them into a force to be reckoned with, or they will give Dethklok the extra push it needs to take control of the world."

General Crozier stared down at his folded hands, "I see…"

"We have full background reports on each member." Senator Stampingston said, an image of a young man with dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes appeared on the screen. "Allow me to introduce Leonardo "Leo" Xavier Harrison, lead singer and guitarist of the Barbed Brothers. He is the son of world renowned defense contractor William Harrison, and sole heir of the Vital Dynamics weaponry fortune. He is characterized as a very impulsive and arrogant individual, and has already had several conflicts with Dethklok."

The image on the screen shifted to another young man with charcoal colored hair and glasses, "On bass we have Alvin Scott Li, his parents run a small chain of Korean cuisine restaurants in southern California. Out of his rather large family he appears to be the only one who has not graduated from college, making him the black sheep of the family. He is deemed the 'den mother' of the band, and stays out of Dethklok's way for the most part."

"And finally," the Senator said as the image changed once more to a girl with short black hair in pigtails, "We have Kyrie Elizabeth Skuld, the bands misfit drummer. She is the daughter of a bold single mother who's neglect and various addictions have had an immense negative impact on the girl. Inorder to cope with her abusive childhood, it appears that she has adopted a childlike personality; much like that of Toki Wartooth's. She is very comfortable with Dethklok, and has been getting dangerously close to the band."

General Crozier studied the girl's image, recognizing her from the pictures Leo had taken. _'She could prove to be quiet useful later on.'_

"Have you obtained any new information about the status of the bands, General?" Senator Stampingston asked.

The Tribunal's eyes fell on the Crozier, "I've been using the leader of the Barbed Brothers to spy on Dethklok and gather information about the tour. So far his findings have been fruitless, Dethklok's manager seems to be keeping a sharp eye on the band."

"We should take this opportunity to get rid of the opening act now, before the bands even have a chance to influence each other." Vater Orlaag suggested.

"No." Mr. Selatcia hissed, "The time is not right. We will allow the bands to intermingle, for now…"

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Kyrie surfed through the channels on the small TV in her room. It was 3 P.M., just about the time Dethklok Minute came on. The girl had finally taken Alvin's advice and decided to watch the show for herself,

"Tell me if Skwisgaar is a bad guy or my special someone." She demanded from the black box.

The classic tune ring out, and a man with spiked dirty blond hair appeared on the television, "The world is going crazy over Dethklok's latest tour and after doing some research of our own, we've found out it will be titled 'Dethcapade'." On the television a faded image of Dethklok appeared, with the outline of an ice mountain behind it, "The tour will kick off on Mount Karpinsky in northern Siberia, so be sure to bundle up because it's_ freezing_ out there."

Kyrie cocked her head, "Dethcapade sounds stupid."

The image changed once more, revealing an image of Dethklok and the Barbed Brothers together. Kyrie liked the picture, she was able to stand near her beloved Skwisgaar during the photo shoot to promote the tour. "Although Dethklok's opening act has been under scrutiny in the media for possibly being the most un-metal band of all time, Dethklok front man Nathan Explosion had this to say: "

"We are keeping this band because it is our goal to make _every_ music genre metal, dark, and most of all, **brutal**." He roared in a deep dark voice. "And we don't want to go through the selection process again. THAT IS ALL."

Kyrie giggled at Nathan's comment as the blond man appeared on the television once more, "We promise to keep you updated about the progress of the tour, and that's the Dethklok Minute."

The girl threw her head back and sighed, "You didn't tell me anything I wanted to know, stupid TV."

"Kyrie!" Toki whined, banging on her room door. "Hurry's up before they burns!"

She jumped up worriedly, "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Toki had admitted he was horrible at anything relating to cooking, but she had only left him alone in the kitchen for 10 minutes…what could he have possibly done? When she opened the door Toki grabbed her hand, running down the hall and speaking faster than she could comprehend.

Kyrie smiled to herself as he pulled her along. Over the past week she and Toki had bonded, simply because it seemed every time she turned around, there he was. She loved the attention, the silly discussions, and the childish games they would play with one another. She felt as if they were kindred spirits, rediscovering each other for the first time in ages.

"T—Toki slow down!" she cried as he dragged her the rest of the way. He pushed open the kitchen doors, and stopped in front of the counter.

"Ok's! Now how I finish this Happy Cake's?" He asked with a smile.

Kyrie noticed the baking pans on the counter, "I thought you said they were going to burn?"

"Oh…I wanted you's to hurry, before they got cold!" he lied, he had only wanted to impress the girl with his solo work, "The guys is waiting for me to finish but I needed you's help."

Kyrie giggled, "Ok, so what do we do after we get them out the oven, Toki?"

"Frosting's!" He went to the refrigerator and pulled out a small white container, and Kyrie retrieved two butter knives from the drawer.

"Make sure you only use a little." The girl instructed, as they began applying the strawberry frosting.

Toki hummed to himself, mimicking Kyrie's gentle strokes while they decorated the small cakes. Since they had grown closer the girl had insisted on baking a special kind of cake for Toki, which she had labeled 'Happy Cake'. It was a mixture of various ingredients, and an additional secret item which she had refused to reveal. Toki found it both exciting and cute, and wanted to share his own batch of the yellow cakes with his friends.

"All done!" Kyrie said, the half dozen mini cakes were coated with a thin layer of pink frosting. "Where is everyone?"

"I think they's practicing or something." Toki responded, placing the cakes on a silver tray and leading the girl to Dethklok.

As they made their way to the band, Kyrie looked up at Toki, "Hey, how come you aren't practicing too?"

Toki shrugged his shoulders, "I's just not feels like it."

"But the tour starts in a couple months, don't you need to practice?"

"No's, I'll be fine." He calmly responded.

She wondered how he could possibly be so confident, Kyrie had practiced everyday as much as possible, and even with Pickles help she still didn't feel ready. _'I guess when you're in the most popular band in the world you're allowed to slack with practice…_' she thought to herself.

A Roadie opened the door for the two, and Kyrie could clearly hear (and see) Dethklok in the middle of rehearsal.

"_You, will most likely die,_

_By the hands of my arm,_

_When I come and fly,_

_And take off your face,_

_With the front of my __**Hatredcopter**_

Kyrie blinked, "Pickles can sing?"

"He can's really good!" Toki laughed, "Hey guys, the cakes is done!" he yelled, drawing attention to the two. The music stopped, and the band seemed to glare at them.

"Toki why did you do that?" Kyrie whispered, feeling nervous. She knew she wasn't allowed in this room, and was afraid her presence had pissed the band off.

"Don'ts worry about it." Toki whispered reassuringly, and moved towards the band. "Me and Kyrie makes cakes for you's guys!"

Skwisgaar seemed the most irritated, "What is this Toki's? Instead of preparing for 'de concert you's cooking like a lady's!"

"It's not's like a lady!" Toki retorted, distributing the cakes, "Me and Kyrie make it together, to help with practice."

"Pfbt," Skwisgaar grumbled, taking a bite out of the cake, "You and you's stupid girlfriend."

Toki grinned, he didn't mind the teasing anymore. "This aint half bad." Pickles said, Murderface agreed but refused to utter a compliment.

Nathan let out a moan of pleasure, having already devoured his cake. "It's so damn good Zoom Zoom, where did you learn to cook stuff like this?"

"I just made the batter, Toki did the rest." She said, sitting on top of a large speaker. Toki scooted next to her, handing her the final cake. "I been wondering, Nathan, why do you call me Zoom Zoom?"

"That's, uh, what everyone else calls you, isn't it?" Nathan asked. She shook her head no.

"I told you I don't even know how many times, Nat'an. Her name is Kyrie, not Zoo Zoo." Pickles corrected.

"Zoom Zoom." Nathan said, trying to correct the drummer.

"Zuuuuum-Zuuuum, Zuum-Zuums." Skwisgaar and Toki said, testing out the word.

Pickles rolled his eyes, "Forget it. Why's Leo call you that anyway?"

"Well, he says 'Zuzu'." she said, happy to feel like a part of the group, "I'm not really sure why he does it, he knows I hate being called that."

"Oh! I's just thinks of something." Skwisgaar said, "Pickle you say her name is Kyrie? That brings to my mind's the Valkyrie's."

"Valkyrie?" she asked, growing intrigued.

Toki nodded, "Valkyrie is from Norse mythology, they follow Odin's, and—"

"Yeas," Skwisgaar interrupted, Toki glared at him. "They's uhm, when it's a battle, they fly's down and chooses the mosts heroic men's who died, and they carry's them to Valhalla."

"What were the Valkyrie's like?" Kyrie stared starry eyed at Skwisgaar, feeling as if they were the only two in the room.

The lead guitarist grinned, "They was _very_ beautiful maidens, riding on 'de backs of winged horses. You knows, you sort of's resembles 'dem, you's could maybe—"

"Alright." Pickles said, tapping a cymbal, "We don't have time for this right now."

"Yea." Nathan wiped the crumbs from the cake onto his pants, "We gotta get back to practice, why don't you make us some more cakes Zoom Z…ah, Kyrie."

The girl smiled and hopped off the speaker, "Kay!"

Toki remained seated, staring angrily at Skwisgaar. '_Who he think he is trying to take __**my**__ friend? He don'ts even like her, I bet it just because me and her pals now…stupid Skwisgaar.'_

"Mister Mute?" he heard Kyrie ask, Toki's eyes wandered to the doorway where a Roadie stood in front of the girl. The man handed her a silver object, and then left.

"What 'dat?" Toki asked, peeking over her shoulder.

Kyrie locked her hands around the object, "Nothing!" she quickly said.

"It something." Toki said, trying to pry the object out of her hands.

"Toki no, it's not! I promise!" she pleaded.

Toki snagged the item from her, and held it high above the girl. She jumped to take it back, but couldn't reach high enough. "Go play somewhere else you two." Murderface groused.

The rhythm guitarist popped open the locket, seeing a picture of Skwisgaar on the inside. "Why's you gots a picture of Skwisgaar?" he asked, audible enough for the rest of the band to hear. "Awww, don't tells me you likes him like all the other goils."

Kyrie could feel her face glowing red with embarrassment, she quickly glanced over at Skwisgaar, who curiously eyed the girl. Her mind began to race, everyone knew her secret, what was she going to do?

She yanked Toki's mustache and he released the locket, whining in pain. She grabbed the trinket once it was within reach, and fled from the room.

"Owwie!" Toki whimpered, rubbing his pained face. "Kyrie, wait!" he called out, following after the girl.

"I guess that means no cakes." Nathan scratched his head with the microphone.

"Dude, I told you she liked you." Pickles said to Skwisgaar, who actually seemed a little shocked from the display.

Murderface smashed his bass on the ground, "**YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN?** This is just what we need! Some cry baby she-devil trying to break up the band!!"

Pickles cocked an eyebrow, "Trying to break up the band and having a harmless crush are two very different things."

"Who says it's harmless?!" the bass player shouted.

Skwisgaar said nothing, merely starred at the doorway.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Alvin scratched the back of his head as Kyrie sobbed on the bed next to him. "I'm sure it's not that bad."

"You weren't there!" she bawled, "I know Toki didn't mean any harm but…I just felt so stupid, what am I suppose to do now? I can't show my face around them anymore, now he knows!!"

"There, there," he said, patting her back, "Well, you planned on telling him soon anyway, didn't you?"

She glared at him, "Tell him what?! 'Oh, by the way Skwisgaar, I've been in love with you since I was a kid, and I was wondering if we could be together now!' You know how crazy I would sound? Like one of those psycho fan girls or something, and then he'd hate me, and I'd be an outcast, and nobody will want me, I'll be all alone forever!!"

"Kyrie, you're over reacting…"

"I just, I didn't want it to be this way." She bitterly muttered, worn out from crying. "He probably thinks I'm an idiot, I should just leave."

Alvin shook his head, "This is a stupid reason to leave. You've worked so hard to get to this point, you're excelling as a drummer, you actually seem happy these days, and just, I'd hate to see you leave over this."

"You don't understand…" she murmured, drifting off to sleep. "What am I suppose to do…"

Alvin sighed, resting his head against the wall. _'This girl can be such a handful…'_ he thought to himself. Skwisgaar was all the drummer spoke of when he had first met her, and regardless of how it happened, at least now the guitarist finally knew how she felt; or at least had some sort of indication of it. He glanced down at the girl asleep on his bed, _'So full of emotion…'_, she reminded him of his youngest sister.

Alvin raised off the bed, pulling Kyrie up so he could lead the sleeping girl back to her room. She rested her head against his chest as he slowly dragged her along.

It made Alvin happy to think of his sister, an energetic eight year old named Sarah. Out of his entire family she was the only one who didn't ridicule the boy, she adored her older brother. After failing his first few years at becoming a famous bassist, Alvin only continued the monotonous 'rise to fame'-game with Leo to show his sister she was right to have faith in him, and more importantly, to show his parents that he _could_ make it. The constant scrutiny and belittlement of the middle child drove him crazy, as did the constant comparing of him to the other, more successful, siblings.

"The only reason I'd stop now is for Emily." he whispered to himself. As he neared Kyrie's room he noticed someone sitting next to the door. "Uh, hey there?" he asked.

The person seemed startled, "Hey's have you se—oh, you gots her with you?" Toki stood from the ground, looking exhausted.

Alvin nodded, still dragging the girl, "She's sort of sleep, do you think you could give me a hand?" Toki went to help, surprising Alvin by how easily he could lift the girl into his arms.

"How's is she? Is she mad's at me?"

"She's just a little emotional right now." Alvin opened the door so Toki could place the girl on her bed. "I knew once the thing with Skwisgaar was out she'd react this way, she just needs some time to cool off."

Toki placed her gently onto the bed, "I am very sorry's I make you mad Kyrie. I promise I not means to."

"She can't really hear you." Alvin said, unsure if Toki understood that or not. "I think we should just let her sleep it off some."

Toki looked sadly down at Kyrie, "How longs she gunna sleep?"

"Not entirely sure," the boy answered, uncertain why Toki was so concerned. Alvin headed towards the door, and turned to see that Toki hadn't moved from his spot. "We should uh, probably get going, so she can sleep." He said once more.

Toki shook his head, "I thinks I stay in here 'til she wake up."

Alvin eyed Toki suspiciously, and left the room. He spend the next hour in the hall, poking his head into the room every few minutes to ensure nothing was going on. Each time he checked in he saw Toki standing in the same spot, watching over Kyrie as she slept.

The bass player let out a sigh and headed to his bands rehearsal room, feeling confident that he had left Kyrie in good hands.

* * *

_Notes : _Sorta issues with this chapter, I'm not entirely sure if you can have a "weaponry fortune" if you are a defense contractor, or how exactly you would word such a thing. I used 'Hatredcopter' because it's my favorite Dethklok song. C: Chapters after this point will probably remain about this length, which feels shorter to me than usual, but as long as it accomplishes what I need it to, length doesn't really matter. xD The next chapter is going to be a little more...edgy, drifting a little more into the mature category; but just a little. ;D

Reviews make me happy!

Thanks to **Luna **(I was gunna hold off a few chapters with Kyrie and Toki making up but I didn't want them to stay bitter ;o; Pickles jealous? ...maybe ;D), **firefly** (Yay deddy fix! Glad you like it! 'o'), **Marner **(What you said makes sense to me, you interpreted the story perfectly to this point, that makes me happy...like what I'm writing is making sense xD school work is blar ;.; I feel ya on the school work issue tho, I hope you get time to write soon, or atleast post a part of a chapter ;.;), **Spike** (I'm glad you like it! 'n that my OC's are alright! Made me bubbly-happy to read your review!!), **Domi **(I agree, Pickles seems like he could function well in society --and with others-- moreso than compared with the rest of the band xD). Thanks to anyone else who may have read too:D


	9. Idol Disappointment

* * *

Chapter Nine

**Idol Disappointment **

* * *

Skwisgaar watched as the bartender filled the tiny shot glass, "Hay's, hurrys it up." He said, impatiently tapping his fingers against the counter top.

"N, no problem sir!" said the balding man, shaking as he prepared the drink. It was great for business whenever the band stopped by the Knotty Bar, but they often caused more trouble than the publicity was worth. The bartender did not dare ask them to leave, fearing the wrath of a drunken Dethklok. The man slid the guitarist his drink, quickly running to the other end of the bar to attend to customers there.

"Dildo's." Skwisgaar mumbled, tilting the concoction to his lips.

Toki drunkenly chatted next to him, "…you's know, then she say, 'I don't know how to do's that Toki's, how you plays this guitars', then I say, 'I's shows you how to play's it', and I hold up the guitars, then I start playing and the string break! She not even mad at me, she just laugh's! I hopes we can keeps Kyrie, don't you Skwisgaar?"

The blond rolled his eyes, "All's you ever talks about is dat' girl, you think she was fancy cheese or somethings."

"She is nothing but a s…a soul…aw damn it, what's the word?" Murderface slurred, swaying on the bar stool, "Hey that reminds me. HEY DOUCHE BAG!" he slammed his fist onto the counter top, the bartender quivered in fear, "Bring me more bar nuts."

"Who's nuts?" Nathan asked, the band broke out in immature giggles.

Whenever they decided to go out on the town, almost always against Charles' wishes, Dethklok mostly kept to themselves. Locals and fans had pestered them initially, but after a few beatings and 'accidental' deaths, patrons of the Knotty Bar quickly learned to leave Dethklok alone. Yet amidst the smoke and music, a persistent young brunette and her strawberry blond friend sat cozily next to Pickles.

"You're really the_ same_ Pickles from Snakes and Barrels?" the brunette asked, twirling a curl of her short hair around her finger. Pickles grinned, clearly intoxicated, and wrapped an arm around the girl.

"The very same."

The girls squealed with fan-girlish delight, "And that's Nathan?" the blond girl asked, pointing to the lead singer.

"Hey Nat'an, come say hi to these _lovely _ladies." Pickles motioned, Nathan starred drunkenly at them.

"Hi…" he muttered, he was never very keen on picking up ladies. Pickles rolled his eyes.

"He's just bein' shy, why don't 'chu go talk to him?" he suggested to the blond, as the brunette began to whisper sexual things into his ear. Pickles' grin widened, it promised to be an_ interesting_ night.

While the rest of his band mates were enjoying themselves, Skwisgaar was having a lousy time. It struck him as odd that there wasn't at least one woman in the_ entire_ bar he wouldn't mind taking home, it wasn't as if he were all that picky about it. Yet as he browsed through the crowd of people, no one seemed worth the effort.

"I bet she talks to it." Murderface said, downing another drink. "Probably worships that locket like some religious nut. Better be careful Skwisgaar, or she'll cast a spell on you."

Toki spun around on the bar stool, "She not, it probably just a misunderstanding's, I don't know what she would see in Skwisgaar."

"Would you's guys PLEASE stop's talking about her?!" the lead guitarist yelled. He glared at Toki, who looked as if he were about to throw up from spinning on the stool to much. Skwisgaar was sick of hearing about Kyrie, or about her crush. It didn't really surprise him, lots of women loved the guitarist so what made her crush so special? What made it so interesting that the guys had to bring it up whenever he was around?

As he finished his drink, Skwisgaar admitted to himself that the only reason he tolerated the girl was because of his friend's attachment. If Toki was so fond of her, maybe she wasn't all that bad? She definitely wasn't metal, or brutal, but something about her had caught Toki's attention, and Skwisgaar was curious to find out just what that something was. He set down the glass, making a mental note to get closer to the girl on his own terms later on.

"Let's go." Nathan said, the blond girl clung to him, having successfully seduced the vocalist. Skwisgaar followed his band mates out of the bar, quietly wondering how they would fit the girls into the Murdercycle.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Skwisgaar yawned in his drunken daze, to tired to make it back to his room or play his guitar. Toki and Murderface were passed out on the couch's surrounding him, and Nathan and Pickles had disappeared with the girls from the bar. The guitarist relaxed more on the couch, and just as he felt himself begin to drift to sleep the door of the main room slowly creaked open.

"Toki?" a soft, feminine voice called out. Skwisgaar kept still, unsure if the sound was a real voice or just his imagination

As the footsteps crept closer to the couches, he wondered who the late night visitor could be. _'Maybe's one of those sluts from 'de bar wants a little more?'_ he thought to himself, feeling a little horny. It was to late in the night to seek out a woman, and Skwisgaar didn't mind taking Nathan's or Pickles' sloppy seconds.

When the figure finally came into focus the girl's eyes were fixated on the couch Toki slept on, "Kyrie's?" Skwisgaar asked.

Kyrie froze, she had only seen Toki and Murderface and from that had deemed the room was safe to enter. If she would have known Skwisgaar was there as well she wouldn't have dared entered, the awkward locket situation still plagued her mind. It was to late to run, so she half looked in Skwisgaar's direction,

"Hi Skwisgaar…" she whispered, motioning a hello.

The guitarist sat up from the couch, a sly grin on his face, "What's you's doing up so late, all alone's?"

Kyrie looked away nervously, "You guys were gone for a while, so when you got back I went to talk to Pickles, but these…sounds, were coming from his room. This other room too, such loud and scary sounds…and screaming too."

Skwisgaar chuckled, wondering to himself if it were even possible to be _that _naïve. "Sounds you's say?"

The girl nodded, and eagerly continued her strange-sounds story. "And then, I asked Mister Mute to check it out, but he wouldn't do it, so I came to get Toki so we could investigate!" she looked over at the sleeping rhythm guitarist, "…but I guess he's sleep, we'll go do it later."

"No's, no." Skwisgaar stood from the couch, "I's go with you, to 'investahgates'." He snorted, disguising his true intention.

She frowned, "It's ok, I don't really wanna bother you with this…"

He ignored the comment and stumbled towards the hall, assuming now that this was some sort of game to lure him away from the others. "Nonesenses, we's go find out just what this big bad sounds is."

Kyrie followed a few steps behind him, trying to mask her nervousness. She had expected Mister Mute to be waiting for her, but he had disappeared from the hall. She frowned, unsure of what she would do if Skwisgaar asked about the locket. _'I could just…play it off, or say it was a joke? No, he won't believe that. Maybe I should bring it up or something, so at least I know it's coming, but what if he doesn't even ask? Maybe he thinks it's nothing…but then wh—"_

"Hey, you's girl." The guitarist said, distracting Kyrie from her thoughts, "Why you walk so slow?"

"I, uhm…sorry." She mumbled, walking faster. He studied the girl, who nervously starred at the ground and played with her hands. When they finally stopped, she looked around confused. "The one room was…not this way, I think?"

The lead guitarist opened his room door, "Why don'ts you comes inside? We finds the sounds later, maybes?"

She looked around his room curiously, quickly forgetting the strange-sounds incident. "It's just like the magazines described…" she said in awe.

"How do's you likes it?" he asked, hungrily eyeing the girl.

"It's really nice, very…modern, and clean. Pickles' room is a total mess, but this i—" without warning he took hold of her hand, and pulled the girl close to his body.

"How about tonight's, you's be my little Valkyrie?" He whispered into her hair.

Kyrie blushed, feeling overwhelmed by the sensation of his warm body against her own. She had dreamed many nights of being this close to her beloved, blond hair cascaded around her and she felt his hands slide down her back. She couldn't help but shiver, feeling both anxious and frightened. In her heart, she felt this closeness meant that he did not rejected her, maybe it meant he felt the same way? To her dismay, the smell of alcohol tainted the fantasy.

Against the wishes of her heart and body, Kyrie looked away and mumbled, "You're drunk, I should go."

"Why should you's leave? Eh?" He seductively asked, tilting the girls chin so their eyes met. "Why not stay with me tonight?" She felt lost in his gaze, and had it not been for the liquor on his breath, she would have allowed him to kiss her.

She pushed him away gently, narrowly avoiding his lips. "I really don't think I should be here."

"Maybe's we just need's to gets you a little drink's, huh? To loosened's you's up."

He released her, moving to get a drink for the girl, "I should, ah, go. I don't really have time to drink." She quickly said.

Skwisgaar stopped, assuming her comment meant that she didn't want to wait any longer for him. He grinned, "A girl who knows what's she wants, I's not expected that from you. Let's get's down to business." He pulled off his shirt, revealing delicate porcelain skin, and loosened the skull belt buckle around his waist. Kyrie's mouth dropped,

"Wah?! What're you doing?" she shouted, covering her eyes and blushing. She _was_ interested in the guitarist, but in all her wildest dreams she never imagined 'it' happening this fast. She had always thought that there was bonding, dates, romance, and things of that nature before sex ever came into the picture.

Skwisgaar wrapped his arms around the girl, placing soft kisses down her neck. "S—stop!" she yelled.

He pulled away and folded his arms, an irritated expression on his face, "What is this? You's carry my picture around, you's comes with me to my room, you's tell's me you don't wants to wait, and now's you's say stop??"

Kyrie starred at him confused, and then decided to take his accusations one sentence at a time, "You told me you'd help me find what the sound was, that's the only reason I followed you here." He rolled his eyes, refusing to believe the statement, Kyrie continued anyway,

"I carry the picture because I…I care about you, so much." She blushed, feeling strangely exhilarated having finally confessed her feelings, "You're like…the world to me. The only reason I went through all of those hardships to finally be here, it was all to meet you. To know you, to be around you…But just because of that, just because I care, doesn't mean I want _this_. Not this way at least…"

"You's not want this? Who's do's you thinks you's are?!" he spat, as drunken sexual frustration began to get the best of him, "Who doesn't want's this? Fastest guitarist in 'de worlds, ladies would kill's to's have just one nights with me, and you's say no??"

The realization slowly began to sink in, Skwisgaar was not her special someone. "I guess so."

He hung his head low, and pointed to the door, "Get out." He growled in a harsh tone.

Kyrie nodded, accepting the fate, and quietly left his room.

Skwisgaar stood stiff, pointing to the door long after she had left. His hair covered his face, and his bright blue eyes were closed. It wasn't as if this were the first time he had ever been rejected. There had been a few women, far more beautiful and talented than _that_ girl who had also refused his advances. Some nobody from an unknown band shouldn't have impacted his ego at all, yet it stung a little that this girl, this kid who claimed to 'care' about him, would reject him.

He resented it, yet something deep inside him couldn't help but respect it. Maybe this was the something that Toki saw in her?

Skwisgaar relaxed his aching arm. The pain prohibited him from playing his guitar, which was the usual remedy to calm his nerves. He threw his hair back, "Womens would kill to have just one nights with me, that dildo's not know what she is missing's." he reassured himself.

He retreated to his bed, still feeling sexually frustrated, and still too tired to find a woman for the night. Skwisgaar slid a hand down his pants, settling with spending the night alone with his hand.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Nathan pulled up his pants, a little less than satisfied with his one nighter. He had been a little much for the girl, who claimed rough sex just 'wasn't her forte'. It irritated him when she said that, why would he be slow, and patient, and _make love_ to a stranger from a bar? That was reserved for a relationship, and he hadn't been in one since Rebbecca. The session with the ditzy bar blond ended sooner than he had wanted, and she was wrapped in his blankets, snoring in an obnoxiously loud manner.

He headed out of his room to get some air, "Hey, get rid of that in there."

The passing Roadie nodded, "Yes, my Lord." And went to collect the girl and her things.

Slightly sober now, Nathan wondered why he brought the girl back in the first place. It wasn't a habit of the band, with the exception of Skwisgaar, to bring women into Mordhaus. "This aint a place for a lady." He said to himself, looking out the window as he advanced down the hall.

Nathan ended up in the main room, noting Toki asleep on his side, and Murderface sitting up with his arms folded and a malevolent expression on his sleeping face. He headed towards the bar for a beer, stopping at a nearby plant to relieve himself. He quickly unzipped his pants, and pulled out his—

"What the hell Nathan?!"

Behind the sofa Toki slept on, he noticed Kyrie sitting on the floor, shielding her eyes. "Hey Kyrie." He casually said as he began to pee.

"Why are you, eh…" she sighed, asking for a rationalization would only complicate things, and it had already been a bad enough night.

Nathan finished up and grabbed a beer, sitting at a stool near the bar. "Past your bedtime, isn't it?"

She cautiously unshielded her eyes, "I just wanted some…needed some…I couldn't sleep." She finally said. The statement was true, for the most part. Skwisgaar had been her motivation for so long, and now without that she felt hollow on the inside. The emptiness was so sudden, so abrupt, so unexpected that she couldn't even bring herself to cry. She just felt numb, and lost.

"It's alot on my mind…" she whispered.

Nathan nodded, as if he understood. "You talked to Skwisgaar yet?" he asked, attempting to make light conversation about the crush; the only thing he really knew about the girl besides her decent cooking.

"Sort of…" she mumbled, "It didn't really go well."

"That's, uhm, to…bad."

She sighed again, "It's alright, Al told me it was silly to think I could get close to him anyway, it was stupid to think I'd even be able to. I guess he was right…" Nathan snickered, and she cocked an eyebrow, "What's so funny?"

"I wouldn't let anyone tell me that, tell me I couldn't do what I wanted."

Kyrie blinked, "Well, Al only has my best interest in mind."

"What's it matter if he does?"

"It's good that he does, like, it means he wouldn't let me do something that would get me hurt or anything."

Nathan raised an eyebrow, "Like a manager, or something?" She giggled and shook her head no, "You can't let someone else dictate your life for you, whatever the interest is."

"He isn't dictating my life, just advice, and stuff…"

"Hmpf. If you like Skwisgaar, and it didn't work out, doesn't mean you did something wrong, or that somethings wrong with you." he downed more beer, "…it's pretty metal that you'd even take the chance, with people barking at you that it was stupid anyway."

It was the first time she had seen this side of him before, and Kyrie couldn't help but stare. She hadn't expected him to say more than a few words, and to her it seemed almost as if he were more normal than he usually let on, "It's so much more to you than what meets the eye, Nathan."

He stiffened, the statement made him feel embarrassed for some reason. "Well you, I, don't go to…more…"

"Wha..?" she asked. He looked away, frustrated he couldn't speak his mind right.

"I'm, just gunna go." He muttered.

"Wait!" she called out, Nathan gazed down at the girl, "Just, ok, if you were in my shoes, what would you do?"

He shrugged his shoulders, and answered truthfully. "Whatever I want, fuck what anyone else says."

She smiled at him, although his answer was irrelevant, she still felt comforted by it. Nathan nodded in her direction and headed back to his room, _'More to me than meets the eye, huh?'_

* * *

I was stuck on how to write Nathan, so much thanks to **MARNER** for the help!

**Luna **(Teehee! I like their friendship too xD I just hope I'm not making them seem TOO cute, or anything xP) ; **Domi **(I thought it would seem cute xD hopefully after this point I can get Nathan acting more than just he likes her food lol ); **Firefly **(Happy cakes ish love! I had to make Toki sweet Kyrie, I can't imagine him being any other way xD ), **Marner **(Tribunal is awesome, I can't imagine a Metalocalypse fic without them xD THANKS again for the help, I really wanna see Strangland now 'cause of your PM!). Thanks everyone for the reviews, and to anyone else who may have read :D

* * *


	10. Band Dynamics

* * *

Chapter Ten

**Band Dynamics **

* * *

Toki and Kyrie huddled together underneath a dining room table, fidgeting eagerly, "How much longer until they's gonna comes?" he whispered to the girl. She looked in between the chairs.

"Not much longer. Oh! Before I forget," She handed him a long piece of clear wire, which was connected to a glass cup on top of the table. "Make sure not to make any sounds or he'll figure out what we're up to." The two giggled mischievously, hearing the rest of Dethklok chattering as they made their way to lunch. Kyrie quietly slid from underneath the table,

"Hey guys!" she said energetically.

They looked in her direction, still sickened by her peppiness. "Hi." Nathan grunted, sitting in a chair at the head of the table, "Where's uh, Toki?"

"He should be here any minute now!" she chimed, "Wait Pickles don't sit there!"

The drummer raised an eyebrow, "Why not?"

"Because!" she took hold of his arm and led him to the seat on the opposite side of the table. "You sit here."

"I don't wanna sit here." He grumbled, she stared up at him sadly.

"But I made this seat special just for you…to make up for yesterday's, uhm, accident." Pickles cringed, recalling the 'Lucky Charms' incident.

"Ha, you go make Pickle a seat, he don't's even wants it." Skwisgaar sneered.

Kyrie glared at him, "Be quiet, nobody was talking to you." She spat, the guitarist matched her glare.

From underneath the table Toki frowned, Kyrie was still upset about the incident with Skwisgaar. When she finally accepted that everything she knew about him was a lie, she decided to end the crush by throwing her locket at the guitarist and calling him a fraud. Toki knew it wasn't Skwisgaar's fault the magazines had lied, but Kyrie refused to listen to reason. It didn't help the situation any that Skwisgaar, after being labeled a fraud, took every opportunity to tease the girl. Toki sighed, tired of dealing with their squabbling, especially since neither seemed interested in breaking the monotonous cycle any time soon.

"Ok…" Pickles said, trying to ease the tension, "I'll ah, sit here I guess."

Kyrie smiled brightly up at him, "I will get the food!"

She pretended to head back to the kitchen, but instead ducked behind a pillar out of the bands sight. "Why's the only cup on the table with Pickles?" Murderface asked, they eyed the glass cup filled with a strange green mixture. "Is it molded?"

"Pick it up Pickles." Nathan said, curious about the contents.

"I aint touchin' that." Pickles griped, seeming a little disgusted. "You do it."

Toki tugged on the wire, hearing the cup drag against the table "Did's that thing just moves by itself?" Skwisgaar asked in disbelief.

"I bet it's the witches cup!" Murderface shouted, "She's putting a spell on Pickles now!!"

Pickles stared at the cup, immediately noticing the shiny wire tied around it. "What the hell?" he asked, moving to grab the cup. From underneath the table he heard Toki giggle, and Pickles realized what was going on. He sighed and flicked the cup, which tipped over and stuck to the table; the strange gelatinous mixture wobbling on the inside of it.

Kyrie slipped from behind the pillar, looking disappointed. "Pickles the prank is only funny if you let us finish it!" she huffed.

"Yea's" Toki added, crawling from under the table. "You's guys should stop messing up the pranks, we's just want's a laugh is all."

"Why's it always at my expense?" Pickles asked, tired of being the brunt of their pranks.

A few days ago the devious duo had pilfered his Dethphone and changed the ringtone to a cheesy boy band, then refused to tell him how to change it back. Then they replaced his toothpaste with Orajel, and he hadn't noticed until _after_ he shoved the toothbrush into his mouth. The worst was when the two broke into his room and painted his face white, dotting it with freckles. After that, they drew green four leaf clovers on his cheeks, and across his forehead wrote 'They're Magically Delicious!'. Kyrie seemed to really enjoy his Irish heritage.

"Lighten up Pickles." The girl said with a smile, "It's just a little joke, me and Toki don't mean any harm."

"You guys need to pick on somebody else now." Pickles said through his teeth, trying to be nice about it.

The pair turned their backs to the band and whispered amongst each other. Dethklok exchanged looks, wondering who the next victim would be. When the duo finally turned back around, Toki pointed to Murderface, "It's you's turn now!"

"Oh fuck that!!" He shouted, Pickles sighed with relief, happy to no longer be the focus of their attention.

"Zuzu?!" They looked to the doorway where Leo stood, panting angrily. "What the hell are you doing?!" he barked.

"What's wrong Leo?" she stared at him puzzled, as Dethklok silently observed.

"The fuck you mean what's wrong?! Me and Al are in there practicing and you're running around here like a fucking kid. We have to practice." He pointed to the ground next to him, as if that was where Kyrie was suppose to be.

She cocked an eyebrow, "I'll be there in a minute, I just gotta get lunch to these guys."

"You're not the maid _**or**_ the cook, regardless of what the hell you seem to think." He stomped towards the girl, ignoring Dethklok, and violently jerked her wrist, "You're the drummer, and you have to practice. **Now**."

Kyrie sniffled, watery eyed, "But I gotta—"

"Leave's her alone!" Toki yelled, furious to see someone hurting his friend. The rest of Dethklok glared at him to remain silent, while Leo dragged Kyrie out of the dining room.

"Leo let me go!" she yelled, trying to get away, "Leo! Just give me a minute! Stop it!!"

Toki clenched his fists, wanting desperately to aid Kyrie, "Why's you guys not want me to help her?! She need it!"

"Toki you's knows we can'ts get involved." Skwisgaar said with a sigh.

"Why not? We just stand here and let's hims push Kyrie arounds like that?"

"Toki that's not our band." Nathan said, "They have to handle it themselves."

"Yeah," Murderface added, sounding genuinely interested in explaining the situation, "If they have fights they have to figure it out on their own, that's just how a band works. Wouldn't want them coming to us like, 'Hey, you…you guys go get along and be _friends_.' Or somethin' like that, they have to figure it out on their own."

Toki looked away, "But it's nots fair, what if he hurts her?"

"Then we'll step in." Nathan calmly responded. Toki yanked a chair from the table and angrily sat down. He looked to Pickles, wondering why he hadn't said anything about the incident. The drummer glared at the hall where Leo had dragged Kyrie, a hostile look on his face.

"Pickle you ok?" Toki asked.

Pickles snapped out of his trance, "Uh, yeah I'm fine." He muttered.

"Well I'm starving." Murderface said, crossing his arms, "Someone go get the food."

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Alvin stood alone in the Barbed Brothers rehearsal room, strumming his bass and tapping his foot to the melancholic beat. Leo wasn't interested in playing '_Strange World_' for the tour, he considered it too emotional for a death metal crowd. Alvin didn't care, he still enjoyed the slow, gloomy song that the two had written it together as teenagers. The sound of scuffling from the hall distracted the bassist, who ended the song early to figure out what was going on.

"I don't see what the problem is!" he heard Kyrie yell, as she snatched her hand away from Leo's grip. Alvin frowned, he had calmed Leo down before he went to fetch the girl, so what had ticked him off again?

"The problem is you need to be here practicing!" Leo yelled back at her.

She narrowed her eyes on him, "Just because I'm not in here with you guys right when YOU want me to be doesn't mean I'm slacking with practice! I practice all the time Leo! You even said it yourself that I'm getting better, I don't understand what your problem is."

"Guys, guys." Alvin said, trying to calm their tempers. "Come on, we're in the same band, we should be getting along with each other..."

"No Al!" Leo growled, "You see what she does, she's always around Dethklok, I never see her practice, she's never here with us. We're your band Kyrie, you don't need to be around them so much!!"

"I can do whatever I wanna do, you aren't the boss of me Leo."

"I'm not the boss of you?" he laughed. Alvin sighed, knowing the situation would only worsen. "I'm the boss of this band, I make the rules, I call the shots. If it wasn't for me you wouldn't even _be here_ Zuzu, so I suggest you get your act together." She averted her gaze, tightening her fists.

"Come on bro, don't do this…" Alvin pleaded in a small voice.

Leo grinned, ignoring the plea, "This is how it works, you don't want to follow _my rules_ and be apart of _my band_ then we can send your ass home. I'm sure we could easily find a replacement."

"I have just as much a right to be here as you do, Leo." She growled, a determined glint in her eyes.

The guitarist shook his head, "My band, my rules. I keep the band inline and make sure we have gigs to play, Al does his part with bass and keeps track of finances, and your job is to be the quiet little drummer who follows orders and makes sandwiches when we're hungry. That's it, that's all you're here for. Not to be all over Dethklok, it makes you look like a fucking whore."

"Fuck you Leo." they stared at Kyrie shocked, they had never heard the girl say anything worse than 'arse'. "I'm practicing and doing my part too, so leave me alone and pick on somebody else." She turned down the hall, rubbing her sore wrist.

"You can't walk away from me!!" Leo yelled, but the girl ignored him and continued down the hall. He quickly turned to Alvin, "Tell her to come back!!"

Alvin sighed, "Just let her go, I think you've done enough damage today."

"What? You're on her side now?!" the guitarist shouted, stomping his foot like a spoiled child.

"I'm not on anyone's side," Alvin said, pushing his glasses closer to his face, "…but you had to of known she'd get sick of you treating her like that sooner or later, especially now that she's around people who treat her with atleast a little respect."

"I do treat her with respect!" Leo protested, "I let her stay with us even when she could barely play, and I let her g—"

"Respect isn't 'letting' her do stuff." The bass player responded, "Respect is treating her like an equal, but it seems like you treat her like more of an asset than anything else. She isn't a toy, Leo, she's a real person with real feelings."

Leo folded his arms and looked away, "She's just a whiner, it's my band, my rules. She isn't special, she has to listen like everyone else."

Alvin approached his friend and then raised a fist, lightly knocking on Leo's head, "Ah, yes, I thought it was pretty empty in there. It has to be, this isn't a hard concept to grasp."

"Shut up." Leo grumbled, irritated by his friends lame attempt to lighten the mood.

"Be nicer to her, please?" Alvin asked, heading back into the rehearsal room, "Make sure you apologize too. I know you're irritated she isn't worshiping you any more with Dethklok around, but that doesn't give you a right to be so mean."

Leo looked down at his boots, _'I'm not even being mean, why does he baby her so damn much?'_ he grumbled to himself. He listened as Alvin resumed practice, and then let out a sigh. The guitarist retreated to the girls' room to apologize, knowing if it wasn't done now Alvin would force him to later.

He dragged his feet down the hall, "My band, my rules." He repeated to himself, trying to justify his unkind behavior. Alvin usually let him have his way and followed instructions, and Kyrie used to do the same. Since she began getting closer to Dethklok she was starting to change, seeming more stable, and confident in herself.

"I hate it." Leo muttered. He missed the obedient, insecure, and overly optimistic girl he had first met. The one who supported him, regardless of how cruel or selfish he would sometimes get, _'And made sandwiches, damn it.'_ he grumbled. He couldn't even remember the last time she had cooked for the band, she was always with Dethklok, _''n that damn Toki._'

Leo tucked his hands into his pocket, wondering what the girls' reaction would be once he finally did apologize. He imagined himself extending his hand to the girl, and swearing how truly sorry he was for his harsh words. She would then warmly embrace him, grateful for the simple apology, and then the two would k...Leo sighed, she had already rejected him once, no point in going that route again.

"Ugh." He shook the thought out of his mind. "Whatever, an apology will make it better, then tell her she isn't allowed to hang out with_ them _anymore." he nodded to himself, noticing the door to recording studio number 5. He stopped and looked up and down the hall, no Roadies were present. "Well, Zuzu can wait." He said with a grin, quickly unlocking the door and ducking inside.

This time Leo was sure not to turn on the lights, positive that was what gave him away before. He could clearly see the folder with 'Dethcapade' written in black sharpie, sitting in the same spot as if it had been waiting for his return. He cautiously advanced towards the control panel, listening intently to the sounds around him, not wanting to be caught again.

His hands trembled with excitement as he opened the folder, finally snapping the pictures that would guarantee his fame. The first image was of a black platform with various Gibson guitar ice sculptures littering the area, with 'Dethcapade' was written in ice block letters. The second image revealed an ice rink of sorts, with scribbled text which read 'metal skaters', Leo looked over the words again, unsure of what the phrase meant. The third image elaborated the ice rink, surrounding it with ice cages, where 'polar bear', 'white tiger', 'artic wolves', and 'more dildo aminahls', had been scribbled.

Leo smiled triumphedly as he closed the folder. "I'm sure this is all I need. Now go apologize to—" just as he turned around, a blunt object struck him on the side of his head. Leo fell to the floor, unconscious.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Toki wandered around Mordhaus in search of Kyrie, worried about how his new playmate was holding up. "Stupid dildo jerk Leo." He grumbled to himself, equally annoyed with his band mates. Kyrie had become 'one of the guys' as far as he was concerned, and they would help each other in a similar situation…wouldn't they?

"No's…" Toki sighed, helping was definitely _not_ metal. "Well Kyrie is nots a very metal persons, we can be's not metal with her too, can'ts we?" he asked aloud.

She did have her own brutal qualities, even if his band mates refused to admit it. When Dethklok had first met the Barbed Brothers the girl had managed to kill the rival band, her cooking had sealed the fate of a number of Roadies, and she was notoriously clumsy…accidental deaths were becoming far to common whenever the girl was present.

Toki glanced down the hall, noticing a familiar Roadie guarding a door to the outside. "Hey you's!" Toki exclaimed, running to greet the man he usually saw following Kyrie around. "Have you's seen Kyrie?"

#317 nodded, and opened the door to the courtyard. Toki strolled outside with a smile on his face, he wanted to surprise Kyrie. After a few minutes of tiptoeing around, he noticed the girl slightly bent over the tail of a large dragon shaped shrub. Her eyes were wide and curious, as she jabbed an unknown object on the grass with a stick.

"Hey Toki." She said, not even bothering to turn around.

"Aww, how you's know it's me?" he asked disappointedly.

"You walk different from the other's." She responded, continuing to poke the object.

Toki covered his nose as he approached her, a foul odor was drowning his senses. "I just wanted to know if you's was ok from before?" she simply nodded. Toki had expected her to say more, or to at least seem upset. "Am you's sure about that, Kyries?"

"I'm fine." She muttered.

"I sorry I couldn't helps you's," Toki said softly, "The guy's just not's let me, all this mumbo jumbo's abouts bands dynahmites, and stuffs. I just don't get's it."

She stopped her poking a moment, and looked back at Toki, "Dynamites?"

"Mhmm! They say like, you's guys gotta fight, and works it out on you's own. I tell them to help but they just say no." he said with a sigh, "Why is that guy so mean's to you anyway?"

Kyrie growled, and violently jabbed the object again, "Stupid Leo and his stupid band, I can't stand him so much sometimes."

Toki peeked over the bush, curious as to what was captivating the girls attention. His mouth dropped when his eyes fell upon the dead body of a Roadie, maggots thrived where the eyes once were, and wiggled in a patch of decayed stomach flesh. "Waaaaaah?!" he shouted, shocked to see Kyrie playing in_ that_.

"Isn't it cool?" she whispered. Her prodding caused maggots to spill from the mouth, "I found it a few days ago, thought it was so disgusting but for some reason I can't stop poking it…All of this morbid stuff is starting to fascinate me now, I think it's your music's fault."

Toki grabbed Kyrie's hand, pulling the girl back to Mordhaus, "That is not's something you should be doing Kyrie! You is a goil! What if you's get sick or fall in it or somethings?" he scolded.

"Toki le'go, that hurts." She whined, he quickly released her wrist.

"Is it because of that dildo's?" Toki growled, referring to Leo. The girl was silent, seeming sad and distant. "Kyrie tell me's!"

"Let's go play." The girl suggested, smiling up at Toki. "Or at least get out of here, this place reeks."

Toki followed the girl back into Mordhaus, unsure if he should say anything more about Leo. "So…what you's wanna play?" he asked as Mister Mute joined the two.

Kyrie shrugged her shoulders, "I dunno…hey Toki?" He looked down at the girl who had a troubled expression on her face, "I was thinking, like, remember when you were showing me how to play guitar?"

"Yeas, we did Underwater Friends together."

She nodded, "You play guitar really well, and it…shocked me, because the guys always put you down about it, or say you can't play at all. Why do you let them say such things to you, if it's not true? Doesn't it make you feel sad?"

"I's not mind it, I just likes being apart of Dethklok." He said with a smile, "It's like we family or somethings so it's not so bad."

Kyrie took his words into consideration as she opened her room door, inviting the two inside. Mister Mute took his place guarding the door, and Toki followed behind her. "What's your real family like?"

Toki stiffened, "I don't's wish to speak of them's…"

She sat on the bed, and cocked an eyebrow, "Why not?"

Toki shook his head, he didn't want to get into that right now. "What is _**you's**_ family like?" he asked, taking the seat next to her.

"I don't wanna talk about it…" she said softly, "Hey wait, I asked you first!"

"I said I's not wanna talk about them first!" he said back to the girl.

The two glared at each other, "I asked first."

"I said's no's first!"

"Toki just answer me and I'll answer you!"

"No's, I said no first so you's have to!!"

Mister Mute poked his head inside the room, concerned a fight was about to break out. The two sat nose to nose, a serious look on their innocent faces. Just as the Roadie moved to separate the pair, Toki and Kyrie began to laugh.

"Fine then, we just won't talk about them." Kyrie giggled, resting her head on Toki's shoulder.

"We's need ah plan for Murderfaces pranks." Toki said, resting his head on top of hers.

Mister Mute let out a sigh and went back to guarding the room. As close as those two were getting it was easy to assume something more was going on, but at least in #317's presence it seemed nothing more than childish affection.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Leo awoke with a start, quickly sitting up and attempting to nurse the bruise on his cheek. The soft touch sent pain coursing through his face, and the boy clutched the carpet in agony. "Fuck…"

"Finally awake, I see." he heard Charles say in a mocking tone. Leo winced, feeling like a child who had been caught disobeying their parents. Charles sat at his desk, a plain look on his face, "Take a seat, Leo."

Leo glanced at the chair next to him, trying to organize his thoughts, "It's alright, I'm fine. I just think I need some ice."

Charles looked towards the door, "Get a bag of ice for him." The Roadie who had caught the boy nodded and left. "How are you, Leo?"

"My face fucking hurts." The boy muttered.

"Yes, yes, the price of snooping is a bit high, wouldn't you say?" Charles asked, "This is the second time you've been caught now, I thought you would have learned your lesson after the first warning."

Leo stared at the ground, "How long is the ice going to take?"

"Let me make this _very_ clear." Charles stood from his desk, "You've breached your contract twice now, and your drummer breaches it on a daily basis. This puts me in a very awkward position, since you and your band cannot seem to follow the rules."

"And?" Leo asked, his response annoyed Charles.

"This is your last opportunity to remain the opening act. If you are caught again, I will be sending you and your band home. Soon after that I will be seeing all of you in court for contract violations. Do you understand?"

"You can't do that!!" Leo protested.

"Dethklok is my responsibility, and these are **my** rules if you choose to stay here." Charles responded.

The Roadie returned, handing the ice to Leo. The boy held it to his face, reluctantly sucking up his pride. "I understand." He gritted through his teeth.

"Very well then, you may leave." Charles said. Leo stood to go, and just as he turned his back to Charles the man added, "Keep your drummer away from Dethklok, if she engages in any lewd activities with any of them I am holding **you** responsible, since this is _**your**_ band."

Leo hesitated a moment, suppressing the urge to yell back at Charles, and hugged the bag of ice to his face. He quietly left the office, allowing his mind to wander back to the argument with Kyrie. Shouting 'my band this' and 'my band that' was not as fun when the tables were turned against you.

* * *

_ Notes _: Lots of notes this time. This chapter is sloppy, and feels incomplete to me. I usually proof it more before posting, but I didn't this time since I really wanted to post. Bad reasoning but whatever :(

I wanted to say from last chapter that I don't dislike Skwisgaar or anything like that! xP I thought mebbe that was how a reknowned Casanova would react to rejection, so I hope it didn't come off bad or anything. I'm really focused on keeping the guys in character, so if anything seems like so-and-so wouldn't say something then please don't hesitate to tell me :D Leo is an ass, and I'm pretty sure he's coming off as that...but I'm attempting to make him not seem so evil. Even bad guys have good qualities :D ...or if nothing else, it's more to their ebilness than what meets the eye. :O

THANKS FOR THE READING, and special-special thanks to those of you who left delicious reviews! **Luna** (Yush with seeing more of Kyrie's principals! In her situation I can't say I'd be able to resist Skwisgaar xD Lots of people seem to adore Nathan in their fanfics ;.; The other guys need love too!), **Marner **(thanks again-again for the help with Nathan xD I'm glad it sounds ok with him! I kinda wanted it to work with Skwisgaar 'n Kyrie...but their confrontation now sets up the rest of the story :D ), **Firefly** (Glad the Nathan-talk works:D Sorta like the same I said with Marner with Skwisgaar and Kyrie, makes me sad too xP but later on it will be...er, something :x !!), **Metal** (I am not good at doing pairings :( ), **Ranekaera **(Glad you like it :D I like yours too xD I think you're right, Nathan definately says 'uh' more...I will keep that in mind for next chapter ;D ), and **Spike** (I was curious how you, being a Skwisgaar fan, would think he would react in that situation. :o 'cause iono, I don't hate him but he's not my favorite either, so just...curious about how you would think he'd act :D ). Thanks again for reviews guys, it means lots to me!

Next chapter will be more fun, promise!


	11. A Metal Misadventure : Part I

* * *

Chapter Eleven

**A Metal Misadventure**  
_Part I _

* * *

Murderface paced his room, plagued by the notion that he would be the 'Devious Duo's' latest victim. "Wha'do I care if they wanna prank me." He cursed under his breath, "God damn douche bags…"

He sat on the edge of his bed, playing with a small knife in his hands. He had been sure to act as indifferent as possible around the pair, hoping that type of attitude would deter their interest. So far it didn't seem to be working. He resorted to threats, to curses and tantrums, anything to scare them off. But they would combat each intimidating remark with an innocent smile, the girl being sure to whisper,

"_You're next, William."_ Just audible enough to send a cold chill through his body.

He hated that girl.

Well, he hated _all_ girls…but this one in particular was driving him insane. What kind of person would smile at each rude remark he barked at her? Or happily clean the messes he would purposely make to piss her off. She remained cheerful and content, almost as if she were mocking him. He had underestimated this one, merely making her cry wouldn't be enough to send her packing. The rest of Dethklok seemed to have forgotten the plot to get rid of the opening act, but not him.

If nothing else, he wanted to be rid of _her_.

Pickles' horror stories about the duo's mischief kept him on his guard. He instructed Roadies to walk into rooms before him, inorder to avoid booby traps. He slept with a gun more often than usual, to avoid sleep-pranks. And he now had an official 'taste-tester', since he could have sworn he caught her slipping something sinister into his dinner one night. The others did not believe him when he complained about it, as a matter of fact, they had called him paranoid and immediately dismissed the claim.

It sickened him to see them bewitched in such a manner, and it disgusted him even more when Skwisgaar abandoned his hostile attitude towards the girl. The guitarist had claimed it was 'mores funner' to merely toy with someone who took his insults so seriously, even if she continued to harbor a strong dislike towards him. It seemed as if she were systematically getting closer to Dethklok, infecting them with her childlike demeanor and overly friendly personality.

"Useless shedevil's gunna break up the band, and everybody's just lettin' her." He mumbled, pressing the knife into his flesh until a bit of blood oozed from his skin. "She can't do anything besides cook…can't even drum…fucking klutz...I hate her."

After a moment Murderface removed the knife, _'Why am I taking this out on myself?'_, he wondered. She was the one trying to break up the band. She was the one who put the pranking idea into Toki's head. She was the one who wore those ridiculous bunny slippers that he couldn't stand. She was the cause of his problems; her, and her alone.

Murderface went to an oak cabinet in the corner of his room, randomly grabbing a rifle from it. He wasn't Pickles, he had no sympathies towards this girl, and he wasn't going to take any of her nonsense, either.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

"Pickles I can't do it!" Kyrie whined, throwing her drumsticks on the ground.

He eyed the frustrated girl, tapping his finger against the beer bottle in his hand. "Dude if ya keep throwin' your gear on the ground like that and you won't have nothin' left to play with."

"Who cares if I can play or not?!" she shouted, wide eyed and desperate. Pickles rolled his eyes, she was doing the 'panic attack' thing again. "What do I do if I can't twirl my drumsticks at the end of the song?! Or if I hit someone with them?! It's the finale! I have to do it, or else everyone will be disappointed, and then they'll laugh at me, and then we'll get booed off the stage, and then I'll ne—"

"Kyrie, " he said, but the girl was too wrapped in her panic to hear him. "Kyrie? …KYRIE." He shouted, the girl cut her rant short and gazed at her teacher. "Calm down. Just keep practicin' it and you'll do fine, alright?"

"It's not alright! The tour is so freakin' soon, and I can't even get the stupid twirling down…"

"Don't worry about that," he reassured the girl, "just keep practicin' what I told you and you'll do fine. Nobody cares if you can spin your sticks or not, it aint important. Just worry about the music."

"Well its important to me." She huffed. "If you can twirl then I wanna do it too."

Pickles was far more experienced with drumming than her, and despite of how many times he told her that, she refused to listen. It was impossible to learn everything she wanted (and basically forced ) him to teach in such a short amount of time, regardless of how dedicated she was.

"Besides," she added, picking her drumsticks up, "Leo really wants me to learn this, he said it'll look really cool at the end if I do it."

"How is stuff with uh, Leo?" he asked, relieved she brought the topic up on her own.

"Much better!" she said with a smile, "He said sorry for before and stuff, I was shocked…Leo never apologizes for anything. He's been a lot nicer at practice too."

Pickles nodded, "Well if he…ever, you know, does anything to hurt your or, ya know….something, don't hesitate to say somethin' so we, uh, know, and…" he glanced at Kyrie who stared at him with a puzzled look on her face. Was he actually expressing concern for her wellbeing? Pickles nervously cleared his throat, quickly changing the subject.

"_Okay_, so, we did the basics, you have dynamics down now, I think I've taught ya all you wanted to know. I mean all you really have left to do is practice more and you'll be fine."

"I gotta do twirling too!" she chimed.

"Spinning." He correct, "Don't say twirl, it aint metal."

She crossed her arms and scowled at her teacher, "Whatever. So, is this it for today?" He nodded a yes, "I guess just a few more lessons left then… you glad to finally be rid of me?"

He half smiled at the girl, unsure if she were seriously asking or not.

"I bet not!" she said before he could answer. "Although if you were I'd understand…those pranks we played on you were kind of mean."

"Childish is more like it…" he grumbled, "You be careful doing that stuff with Murderface, he don't really like practical jokes."

"We don't even have to do anything with him." She said, skipping out into the hall, "He's so worried about what we _might_ do it's more fun just to watch him squirm…see ya Pickles!"

Kyrie stretched her arms as she advanced down the hall, humming happily to herself. Leo accepted her bold new attitude, she was getting better with drumming, learning to cook exotic things from Jean-Pierre, and having fun with Toki. Sure there had been a few set backs, but overall…

"Thing's couldn't be better." She said to herself, letting out a happy sigh as she walked outside into the courtyard.

Since Toki had the Roadies dispose of her play-corpse, she enjoyed going there to relax. The atmosphere was very serene, a place Dethklok would retreat to when they were worn out from being 'dark and brutal' all the time. Yet something was missing, she just couldn't figure out what that something was.

"Oh! Animals…where are the animals?" she asked. The only animals she had seen around Mordhaus were the yard wolves, and those terrified her.

She let out a sigh, "Well, maybe it's best there aren't any animals here…can only imagine what would happen to o—" out of the corner of her eye she saw something scurry behind a bush, and she quickly went over to investigate. When she peeked over the shrub a soft, fuzzy brown creature peered up at her.

A rabbit.

"Oh my gosh…" she gasped, reaching down to pet the animal. It instinctively jumped away, causing the girl to frown, "You might be a wild one but I think those run more…don't they?" she asked aloud, "How'd you get in here mister bunny?"

Kyrie took another step towards the rabbit, which turned from the girl and scurried away. She couldn't help but giggle, happily chasing the animal around the courtyard.

Toki and Skwisgaar watched from a distance, the two were headed to the main room when Kyrie caught their attention.

"She just having's so much fun with that bunny." Toki said, a gentle smile on his face.

"Ja, looks at her goes." Skwisgaar added, his eyes fixated on her bouncing breast. "She's can's really hop."

Toki glared over at him as Kyrie finally caught the rabbit, holding it up in her arms. "Hey don't you's looks at her like that. She not likes it when you's do it."

Skwisgaar glanced back at Toki, "Well's I's n—"

A loud shot echoed from the courtyard.

Someone had fired a gun.

Toki looked panickedly to Kyrie, who stood with her arms still in the air and blood splattered on her face. Without a word he ran out to the girl, leaving Skwisgaar alone in the hall.

The guitarist stared blankly at the girl, the look on her face was a mixture of horror and shock. It didn't appear she had been hit, but the rabbit had not been so lucky. She loosened her grip on the creature which fell to the ground, making a bloody mess at her feet.

"Mister bunny…" she whispered as tears swelled in her eyes.

"HELL YEA I GOT IT!!" Skwisgaar looked across the courtyard, Murderface stood with a smoking gun in hand and a gleeful look on his face. "Take that soul murderer!!"

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Toki stood at the head of a dining room table, surrounded by his heavy-eyed band mates. "Ok's…" he said, clearing his throat. "I am's callings this band meetings into orders."

"Toki sit down." Pickles grumbled, sitting in his underwear. "You don't gotta make this official just tell us why we're here so we can go back to bed."

"I am angry's about what Murderface did to Kyrie's, a—"

"It was **brutal**." Nathan said, sounding almost as if he were applauding the behavior. Toki shot him an irritated look,

"It was not's brutal, he make her cry. Kyrie ju—"

"Toki, just do the meeting." Pickles said impatiently.

Toki sat into his chair, crossing his arms, "I don't likes it, it wasn't nice he coulda really hurts her."

"I did what I had to do, she was gunna prank me you guys heard her!" Murderface shouted in his own defense.

"We wasn't even going to do nothings!!" Toki shouted back to him, "It not even matter now, she don't want's to do no more tricks since you make her sad."

"Good then." Murderface grumbled, "You guys owe me, I saved all your asses too."

Toki glared at Murderface, setting aside his desire to argue with the bassist to continue the meeting. He needed their assistance. "Since Kyrie's sad I wanted to makes it ups to her, and shows her that we not all such bad guys like _you_, Murderface."

"I don't care." Murderface spat.

"She really likes animals, so I wanted us to buys her a zoo aquariums so's she happy."

"That is the most dildo's ideas you's have ever had, Toki." Skwisgaar said with a yawn.

"I aint payin' for that." Pickles added. Kyrie was tolerable, but none of them liked her _that_ much.

"Yeah, what Pickles said." Nathan added, "That costs to much, feeding, and taking care of them."

"Not to mention they fuckin' stink." Pickles muttered.

Toki frowned, "But's guys she's really sad, can'ts we's do something for her? Anything??" he pleaded.

They eyed their distraught rhythm guitarist, and after a few minutes of sad, puppy dog eyes they couldn't help but feel _slightly_ sympathetic. _'Damn it Toki.'_ Murderface grumbled to himself.

"She cooks, and keeps Toki's busy so's we's can record." Skwisgaar suggested. It seemed whenever they debated on doing something for the girl they were forced to reflect on what good she had done for them.

"She can have them…" Nathan muttered.

"Only one day Toki." Pickles quickly added. "Go rent them or somethin', have 'em here for a day and then gone the next you got that?"

Toki's face lit up, "You really means it?!"

"Ja's now goes hurry's it ups and gets them so we's can go back to sleeps." Skwisgaar said, stretching as he stood.

Toki sped off to prepare, and the rest of Dethklok returned to their rooms; with the exception of Murderface. He remained at the table, arms folded across his chest and an aggravated look on his face. What was he going to do now?

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Alvin gently lead a blind folded Kyrie through Mordhaus. Toki had directed him to send the girl to the eastern section of the estate for a surprise of some sort, "I hope this is safe…" mumbled to himself. After hearing what Murderface had done to the girl he wasn't sure it was safe for her to be around Dethklok any longer, but Toki insisted this 'surprise' was harmless.

"Do I really have to wear this stupid blindfold?" Kyrie huffed, twitching her nose in an irritated manner. He wasn't sure if she understood how close to death she had almost come, after tearfully burying the rabbit she seemed almost fine again.

"Just a little farther." He said, opening a door for Kyrie and escorting her outside. A large metallic box stood where the tennis court once rested, and a group of men in yellow hard hats were situated around the box. He cocked an eyebrow, they didn't look like Roadies, so what were they doing at Mordhaus?

"It's all fixed chief." One of the men said, placing his tools back into his toolbox. "You just press that button there to activate it."

"That all?" Alvin heard Nathan ask. Kyrie perked up at the sound of his voice.

"Yessir, just be careful, this is new technology…" the man continued, "We're still in the embryonic stages of the Habitat-In-A-Box project and do—"

"Yea, yea we got it from here." Pickles said in a nonchalant manner. "Oh, shusssssh, here she comes."

"What's going on?" Kyrie anxiously asked, wanting to yank the blindfold off and see what the fuss was about.

Toki appeared from the box, mouthing a 'thank yous' to Alvin who reluctantly passed the girl off to him. He couldn't help but frown,

"Don't let anything happen to her." He whispered.

"What's going oooon?" Kyrie whined. "Somebody tell me!!"

Toki giggled, ushering the girl into the box with the rest of Dethklok. The electronic door slid closed behind them, and the panel next to it blinked :

**Habitat Secured**

"Boss you sure this is safe?" one of the men asked, the comment immediately caught Alvin's attention.

A balding man nodded, "This is Dethklok, how could I say no to them? Besides, I'm sure they'll be fine."

Alvin winced, "It's not safe…?" he asked, upset with the idea that Toki had lied to him.

"No, no!" the boss quickly said, "It's totally safe, I told them that. We wouldn't sell them this product if we didn't think it was safe, that's company policy."

"But Boss," another man said, "You said with what they're paying us who cares if it's safe."

The boss glared over at his blabbermouth employees, "It's Dethklok! They'll be fine." He said again.

"My friend is in there with them, and I don't want her to get hurt. Could you please let her out?" Alvin asked.

"It's fine!!" the boss insisted, "Your friend is with Dethklok, nothing in there can hurt them!"

"But boss," another employee said, "Aint it tigers, and alligators, and boars, and t—"

"Shut up!" the boss shouted, "It's Dethklok, they'll be fine!!"

"I want my friend out of there now, or else." Alvin said in a serious tone.

The boss snickered, "Or else what?"

"Or else you'll have a heavy lawsuit on your hands." Charles said from behind them, startling everyone. "I need to speak with Dethklok about this 'Habitat' investment of theirs. Open the doors."

The bald man's face paled, "Ye—yessir. Open it up, Johnny."

An employee nodded, pressing buttons on the control panel next to door. A dull tone blared from the speaker above the panel,

**Error. Please Try Again.**

The boss stiffened, sweat trickling down the side of his face. "D…do it again…"

After a few more failed attempts the employee let out a sigh, "I think the error is coming from the inside. Either we input the passwords wrong, or they've busted something in there. I can't get it open."

"Then open it another way." Charles said, standing next to Alvin.

"T…" the boss cleared his throat, "…there aren't any other ways to open it."

"What do you mean there's no other ways to open it?!" Alvin shouted.

"This is still in the early stages of development…" the boss mumbled, "We didn't have time to find another exit when they called, we told them no but they offered so much money…we needed it for research, to finish the Box…"

x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Kyrie stood, mouth agape, at the scene before her eyes. Tall tree's reached for the bright blue sky, echoing sounds of a lively forest environment. A clear blue stream calmly trickled beside the girl, monkey's howled from the wooded area, and birds carelessly fluttered overhead. Despite it's realistic qualities, she couldn't help but notice an outline bordering the 'sky' and the lack of a sun, despite the fact that it appeared to be midday.

"Where are we?" she gasped, "Some kind of…fancy zoo, or something?"

Toki smiled down at the girl, "Since you's was sad about Murderface and the bunny we gets this Habi-tabit box for you's. It's lots of animals and stuffs for you's to play with, all right here's at Mordhaus!"

"Aww Toki!" she jumped up and hugged him tightly. "You're so sweet!"

"What's abouts us?" Skwisgaar grumbled.

"Yeah," Pickles added, sounding a little irritated. "Toki aint the only one who paid for all this crap." Kyrie peeked behind Toki where the rest of Dethklok stood, as colorful butterfly's fluttered around them. The death metal band looked absolutely out of their element in such a bright and lively environment.

"You guys want hugs too?" she asked, pulling away from Toki.

"No." they unanimously grunted, having only come along to ensure their money hadn't gone to waste.

"This is so awesome!" she exclaimed, happily buzzing around the area, jumping over rocks and running through the stream.

Pickled sighed softly, it was nice to see the rabbit incident hadn't traumatized her. "Are we done here?"

"Yeah, I, uh, really don't want to be here anymore." Nathan added, shielding his eyes from the brightness of the artificially lit sky.

"I didn't wanna be here in the first place." Murderface grumbled, angry Toki had dragged him along.

"Yeah, I see you's guys later." Toki said, after sacrificing the night setting all of this up, he was happy to see how much she enjoyed it.

Murderface rushed towards the exit, desperate to get back to his room and away from _that_ _girl_. He stepped in front of the door, expecting it to slide open. "What the fuck?"

"Open the door so's we's can leaves this place." Skwisgaar said impatiently, "It's too fucking hots in here's."

Murderface stepped towards the door once more, and again nothing happened. "It won't open." He said, then began banging his fists against the door. "HEY, OPEN UP!!" Kyrie and Toki looked towards the exit, unsure of what the commotion was all about.

"Dude, press the button on the box." Pickles said. Nathan headed towards the control panel, looking over the array of multicolored buttons.

"What button?" he asked, no one had bothered to listen to the man explaining the controls, he had been far too boring.

"The uh's, press the green's ones." Skwisgaar suggested.

Nathan pressed it several times, quickly growing frusterated, "Why won't it open??"

"Nat'an_** no**_!" Pickles shouted, moments to late. Out of frustration Nathan slammed his fists into the panel, causing sparks to flare and a loud sound to radiate from the speaker next to the panel.

**Error. Unauthorized Code. **

**Restoring Safe Mode.**

Murderface continued pounding on the door, "DUMBFUCKS OPEN THE DOOR!! LET ME OUT!!"

"Murderface that ain't helpin'." Pickles said, but the bassist ignored him and continued pounding anyway. Pickles rubbed his temples, "It's sound proof."

"Sound proofs?" Skwisgaar asked.

"It means it not matter how much you's yell, nobody can hear you's." Toki responded.

"Pfffbt, dildo, I knows whats a soundproofs is." Skwisgaar huffed, "I's just asking why they make it do that. How the hell they gunna hear us needing outs now?"

Nathan looked to Pickles who was examining the control panel, "Uh...can you fix it?"

"Dude it's fried," Pickles responded with a shrug, "We need some tech people in here or somethin'."

"What's safe mode?" Kyrie asked, the band looked back at her confused. "The computer, er, thingie said that we're in safe mode, what does that mean?"

"Anybody read the book that guy gave us?" Pickles asked, causing his band mates to look away sheepishly.

"Too many's words." Skwisgaar answered.

"I was settings all this up, I not's have time to reads it." Said Toki.

Nathan shrugged, "Didn't care."

"I was too drunk." Answered Pickles.

Kyrie hung her head low, "Why would you get something like this and not even bother to read the manual?" she groaned.

"You…" they looked to Murderface, who had finally stopped banging on the door. He pointed to Kyrie, an angry look on his face. "This is all your fault!! If you would of never came here all of this would of be FINE. THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT WE'RE TRAPPED IN HERE!"

Her lower lip began to quiver as tears filled her eyes. She was learning to stand up to Leo, she had gotten over the fact Skwisgaar was not her special someone, but something about Murderface scared _the hell_ out of her, and she just couldn't bring herself to stand up to him. "I'm sorry…" she helplessly mumbled.

"Murderface, dude, relax." Pickles said, trying to calm the tension in the air.

"NO!" He shouted, clenching his fists. "YOU GUYS ARE ALL BRAINWASHED BUT I'M NOT LETTING HER GET TO ME TOO!!"

Nathan sighed to himself, not wanting to deal with a tantrum from Murderface or crying from Kyrie. He blinked as something wet splashed onto his cheek, and after the second and third drop he looked up at the sky as it gradually grew darker.

"What the hell?" he said, "It can rain in this?"

Thunder began to roar around them, "You's gots to be kiddings me." Skwisgaar said, holding his hands above his head as a shield against the rain.

"We need to get outta this rain." Nathan said.

"We's could goes into the woods." Toki suggested.

"I aint goin' in there." Pickles protested, "It's animals and shit, we're better off out here where we can at least see somethin' chargin' at us."

"Looks guys, it's a huts over theres." Skwisgaar said, pointing to a small straw hut to the far left of the group.

Nathan nodded, "Alright douche bags, we'll stay in there until those jack offs outside get us out."

Dethklok followed behind their leader, with Kyrie sticking close to Toki and out of Murderface's way. She briefly glanced at the bassist, still unsure if he honestly hated her or not. Her attempts to win him over with kindness only seemed to anger him more. He shot her a deadly glare as the rain poured down around them, and she couldn't help but sigh, _'Stupid scary William…'_

They trudged into the small hut, shaking off water and wondering when help would arrive. No one seemed to notice the creature deep within the trees with large, glowing yellow eyes watching the group intensely.

* * *

_Notes _: Pewpew! Took almost a month but here's an update, excuse the grammatical errors...it's just if I don't post it now it won't be up for atleast another week. This is part one of a two part chapter! This chapter is waaaaay longer than I intended it to be, but I guess that's ok...last chapter was boring imo since I feel like I tried to explain too much with mere text, so with this one I tried to make it a little more chatty. **BUT** I, of course, am not good with talking-stuff so I hope I didn't mutilate their dialogue to much. I'm hoping the second part to this will be up in a more timely manner. 'n hm...for the record, I don't dislike Murderface or anything, just I'd imagine it would be harder for _anyone_ to get even remotely close and friendly-like with him...well, atleast it would be hard for someone like Kyrie.

**Thanks so much for reading.** :D I wish I knew how to reply to comments directly, if anyone knows how to please share :( , 'cause all I have time to really say is special thanks to** Luna** and **Marner **who got me started (and kept me goin'!)with this fic C: as well as **Ranekaera**, **JoSchmo**, **Domi**, **Spike**, **Pheonix**, **purpleleemer**, **Starlit**, and **Zuzu**(?)! 'cause reviews **r** love. :D


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